



Class Q 1 ^ v t . 

Book JJ : 

Copyright iN __iaj_S, 

COPYRIGHT DEFOSIT. 



CHRIST'S 
EXPERIENCE OF GOD 



CHRIST'S 

EXPERIENCE OF GOD 



> 



FRANK H. DECKER 

M 
MINISTER OF THE CHURCH HOUSE 

PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



THE PILGRIM PRES^ 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 






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Copyright, 1915 
By FRANK H. DECKER 



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THE PILGRIM PRESS 
BOSTON 

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TO MY WIFE 



INTRODUCTION 



I know Frank Decker. It is a privilege to 
know him, but I can hardly call it a distinc- 
tion. I am only one of several thousand 
millionaires and ministers and mulligans, of 
Pharisees and first citizens and tramps, of sin- 
ners and publicans and outcasts of various 
sorts who have the right to stand up in the 
streets of Providence at his side and say "I 
know you." Anybody can know Decker, pro- 
vided, of course, that he is in trouble or 
need. If he has no troubles he may have to 
wait outside a while until Decker gets through. 
They that are well need no physician but they 
that are sick. 

Many men write lives of Jesus — how many 
you never know until you look at the book cat- 
alogues. But Decker has lived a life of Jesus 
first and written it afterwards: and that, as 
you will agree I think, is something entirely 
different. 

You have heard the phrase, the "heart of a 

[vii] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 



city," by which is generally meant the city's 
center, the spot where the street cars are thick- 
est and the noise and dust are worst. The city 
of Providence has a real heart. It is Decker's 
Church House, which stands down-town in the 
center of things on an almost respectable 
street, its door wide open to everyone. It's 
the business of a good, hard-working heart to 
center in itself all the sympathy and love of 
the organism; and the Church House has 
pretty nearly succeeded in doing that for 
Providence. Drop into the current of the 
city's traffic anywhere a lonely human being 
in search of help and he may drift about for 
a time, but before night he will have found 
Decker; you may be sure of that. The first 
policeman he speaks to will direct him, or the 
first conductor or fruit peddler. And Decker, 
who may have seen a hundred or two just like 
him already, will have the same big smile for 
him and will help to do up his bundle of worry 
and pack it away with the thousand and one 
similar bundles that have been left at the 
Church House and never called for. 

It was ten years or more ago that Decker 

[viii] 



INTRODUCTION 



— by the way, his name is Rev. Frank H. — 
began to work out the idea of his Church 
House. He was pastor of a Congregational 
church in Providence at the time, and happy 
with his job, but not altogether satisfied. It 
struck him that he was only partly doing the 
things that Jesus of Nazareth had done. 
Jesus, for instance, took care of the sick. 
Decker had no facilities or opportunity for 
that. Jesus had made his home with the poor 
and given them the help they needed. He had 
been a sort of First Aid to everybody who 
needed him in the cities where he went. Espe- 
cially his fondness was for the publicans and 
sinners. Decker envied him those publicans 
and sinners more than anything else. Some- 
how he couldn't seem to get at enough of them 
through his regular church work to make any 
showing at all. It made him restless; he 
wanted to put himself in a place where he 
could have a chance to do all the things that 
Jesus had done, where he could really touch 
every needy life in the city with the spirit of 
real active love. He wanted to show that love 
works. 

[ix] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

It wasn't to be a united charities organiza- 
tion, nor a social settlement, nor any religious 
work with the religion left out. Decker had 
watched the efforts of such organizations for 
years, and while he sympathized with them, he 
found them wanting. In his Bible reading he 
is a revised versionist. That is, he thinks that 
when Paul wrote "the greatest of these is char- 
ity," he really meant "love." He has an idea 
that if John had intended to say, "God so card 
indexed the world," or "God so analyzed the 
case of the world," or "God so investigated the 
world," instead of "God so loved the world," 
it would have been printed that way. So he 
opened up a couple of rooms in an inadequate 
sort of a house and let it be known that any 
one who needed help of any sort, or comfort 
or sympathy, could come around to him and be 
loved. That was the idea — charity vitalized 
and made everlastingly effective by love. He 
didn't have much money for furnishings, and 
among the things which he was careful not to 
spend any of his money on were card cata- 
logues and files and record-books in which to 
count up the number of his cases. 

[x] 



INTRODUCTION 

A half-dozen times every day Decker gets 
his opportunity to demonstrate that there is 
a real difference between charity and love; 
that what the world needs is not so much ham 
sandwiches as the bread of life; that Jesus 
with $50,000,000 and an organization behind 
him couldn't have done as much as Jesus who 
was never too busy to love. 

It took Providence some time to catch the 
vision of what Decker was doing and plan- 
ning, but after that he had plenty of help. In 
his office in the new building now he's really 
at the center of a web of helpfulness that 
reaches out to almost every agency in the city. 
The police are for him; let a man come to 
them in trouble and they turn him over to 
Decker. If his trouble is a legal one, Decker 
passes him on to one of half a dozen lawyers 
who give their services free to the Church 
House. If it's sickness, there are some of the 
biggest physicians in the city who have offered 
him their service at any time. If it's a case 
for the city hospital or the poor-farm or the 
infirmaries, the officers of all of them know 
Decker and are ready to lend a hand. If it's 

[xi] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

food that's required, Decker knows where to 
get it. If it's a job. there are a dozen big man- 
ufacturers who have offered to take any skilled 
labor that Decker sends to them; unskilled 
labor he employs himself in doing the thou- 
sand and one odd jobs about the homes of the 
Church House's friends and supporters. 

That's one particularly interesting thing 
about the Church House, that it co-ordinates 
all the various helpful agencies of the city. It 
gives opportimity for service to all kinds of 
people who really want to do something to 
help, but haven't the time to limit up their 
own opportunity. From the four corners of 
the city folks who need help are poured in 
upon Decker, and he puts new hearts in them 
and new hats on them and turns them over to 
other folks who are ready and willing to give 
help. 

The other interesting tiling about the 
Church House is that its work is three-quar- 
ters self-supporting. The beds and the meals 
yield a certain revenue, and the men and 
women who have found new life and hope 
through Decker come back to reimburse him 

[xii] 



INTRODUCTION 

out of their first earnings for the money which 
the Church House has invested in them. 

His is a gruelling day and night task. Just 
simply to sit back in a chair and receive a hun- 
dred men and women a day, to say to each one, 
"Now, I like you, and we'll see what can be 
done in your case" — that may be easy enough. 
But it is not the way Decker does it. He 
stands all day long in a current of men and 
women who drift against him with the full 
force of their dead weight, and all day long 
he is striving with every atom of will power 
and heart power that is in him to turn them 
around, to resurrect their dead spirits, to set 
them fighting their way back against the cur- 
rent. Jesus, who did the same sort of work, 
was conscious that power had been drained 
out of him even when a woman touched the 
hem of his garment on the street. Decker, at 
the close of some of his days of unremitting 
contacts, is about as limp and tired out as a 
man can be. 

But he's proving that love really works. 
When he had to lock a man up in the city 
prison the other night he told the poor fellow, 

[ xiii ] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

even as he closed the door on him, that it was 
an act of love. And apparently there must 
have been something in his voice that rang 
true, because a grimy hand was pushed out 
through the bars to take his, and the man in- 
side said, "Thank you, Mr. Decker." Things 
like that please Decker. They are the recom- 
pense that he gets for the long, tired, trying 
days. They are his encouragement to go on 
with the job of being the heart of a city, of 
making Providence worthy of its name. 

It is because I have seen him live that I have 
wanted to read what he writes. Other lives of 
Jesus may have been written by men with 
more degrees after their names, but I venture 
that none of them carried a higher degree of 
devotion to Him in their hearts. None of 
them, I know, have had more publicans and 
sinners as their friends, have sought with more 
soul exhausting earnestness to seek and to save 
that which was lost. 

Bruce Barton. 



[ xiv ] 



FOREWORD 

There are many false types of Christianity 
in the world, as Jesus predicted there would 
be, and it is of vital importance that their 
errors be pointed out, that men may not be 
deceived by them. They may be known by 
their fruit. So Jesus declared. "Men do not 
gather figs from thorns." No more can the 
fruits of genuine Christianity be found con- 
nected with any of its perversions. The true 
Christian life can be lived only by one who has 
the true Christian religion. The Christian 
character can be grown only in Christian soil. 
What now we wish to do is to make clear the 
vital connection between Christ's faith and his 
character, which was the fruit of that faith. 
Jesus reduced his faith to practice. He lived 
his faith to the full. He trusted it implicitly. 
It was his meat and his drink. Take away 
the faith of Christ, and there is nothing sig- 
nificant about the life of Christ. His charac- 
ter was the fruit of his faith, and he declares 

[XV] 




CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

that that faith will produce the same character 
in everyone who holds it; that that faith will 
transform every believer into his image, and 
so into the image of God. The same tree will 
always bear the same fruit. The real faith of 
Christ will always enable one to live the life 
of Christ. We cannot believe what he believed 
without developing such a character as he 
developed. 

That the character of Christ is above all 
other characters known on earth is conceded 
by all those who know him, even by those who 
do not wholly accept his teaching or believe in 
the reality of his personal experience of God. 
The secret of that life does not seem, however, 
to have been clearly revealed to all who call 
themselves Christians. Many Christians think 
of Jesus as the Son of God in a unique way, 
and therefore regard his character as a unique 
creation. It does not seem to them to have 
been developed as other characters are. Per- 
haps this is the reason that so little real effort 
has been made to understand how such a char- 
acter was developed. No greater question can 
be considered than that of the secret of Jesus, 

[xvi] 




FOREWORD 

how it was that he was able to develop a char- 
acter that has commanded the worship of men 
wherever it has been known, and must vet 
compel every knee to bow before it. 

Some lives of Christ have been written in 
which his faith and religious experience do not 
figure at all. As well write a life of Darwin 
without mentioning evolution or of Marconi 
without mentioning electricity. The chief sig- 
nificance in the life of Jesus is found in the 
religion he taught and which he claimed to 
have experienced. When we come to ask pre- 
cisely what the religion of Jesus Christ was, 
which is the only true Christianity, there arises 
a babel of contradictory voices bewildering the 
mind of the sincere inquirer. 

There is no doubt that Jesus claimed that 
he enjoyed a personal experience of God. He 
was sure of the presence of Another with 
whom he was in direct touch and whom he 
recognized as his Father. He felt His touch 
and heard His voice. Jesus did not think of 
himself as the Father, or as a part of the 
Father, in any such sense that the Father was 
not another personality. His Father was not 

[ xvii ] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

his higher self, but another self. There were 
two wills, his and God's. The God of Jesus 
was entirely personal. He was another indi- 
vidual. Jesus was in the Father and the 
Father in him, only as he prayed that other 
men might be one in God and God in them. 
The God of Jesus was a Spirit, but a personal 
Spirit, and the Father of all spirits. 

Jesus believed that he experienced God. 
He was conscious of his personal union with 
Him. That was his religion. I am not argu- 
ing for the reality of such an experience, but 
simply insisting that the fact be recognized 
that Jesus claimed it for himself. His experi- 
ence of God was intimate and enduring, more 
intimate than his experience of his nearest 
friends. God was more real to him than his 
mother. He came nearer to God than to those 
earthly companions with whom he was most 
closely associated. He spent whole nights in 
communion with God; and would often go 
apart early in the morning to meet Him before 
he would consent to meet others. Jesus 
needed no man to help him to realize the pres- 
ence of God. "I am alone," he said, "and yet 

{ xviii ] 



FOREWORD 
I am not alone, because the Father is with 



me." 



"Why cannot I follow thee now?" Peter 
asked his Lord. All the other disciples and 
friends of Jesus might have asked the same 
question, for not one of them was able to fol- 
low him in his holy life of love. Their failure 
was wholly due to the fact that as yet they 
were without their Master's experience of 
God. The Holy Spirit had not yet come into 
union with them. They therefore did not 
understand God's will concerning Jesus, as he 
understood it. They could not follow him, 
because they savored not of the things of God, 
as they are known only by those who are in 
the Kingdom of God, that is, in personal union 
with God. They did not share their Lord's 
aim to be perfect as his Father in Heaven is 
perfect. How could they follow him? They 
did not have their Lord's motive, how could 
they either understand or continue with him? 
Without his aim, motive or method, Christ's 
most loyal friends were forced into denial of 
him, even when they were ready to lay down 
their lives for his sake. 

[xix] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

And here is revealed the secret of the failure 
of many now to develop in the character of 
Christ. As I have said, that character is the 
unique fruit of Christ's religion, of his per- 
sonal fellowship with God. Only as one shares 
Christ's aim, motive, and experience of God, 
is one a true Christian. Only so can one have 
that fellowship with Christ and God by which 
one's sins are overcome and one is transformed 
with Christ into the image of God. A true 
Christian is one who shares Christ's experience 
of God; is one whose faith in the righteous- 
ness and love of God rests upon his personal, 
spiritual union with God. There are many 
whose supposed experience of God does not 
commend itself by the character it has devel- 
oped. Judged by its fruit it is to be avoided 
rather than desired. Some men, seeking union 
with God, have become fanatical and insane; 
while the so-called spiritual experiences of 
others have not resulted in purifying their 
lives. These men have not sought God with 
Christ's conception of Him, or with his motive 
for seeking Him. They have desired union 
with Him for selfish reasons and not in order 

[XX] 



FOREWORD 

that they might be qualified for larger useful- 
ness in ministering to the world. No experi- 
ence of God can prove beneficial to men ex- 
cept as they seek to share its fruit with others. 
Our debt to Christ for showing us the way to 
a true experience of God, with its fruit of a 
perfectly God-like character, is immeasurable. 
His service in showing us how to find God is 
the highest service that a man can ever render 
another. He has done this; he found and 
revealed the way to God. This is what he con- 
sidered to be his great mission in the world, 
and he succeeded in fulfilling this mission. It 
thrills one's soul to write these words. Jesus 
of Nazareth found the only possible way to 
God for himself and for the world ; and at the 
expense of suffering and death he has forever 
revealed it to the world. What his experience 
of God on earth was, and the way he entered 
into it, we shall now humbly seek to make 
plain to all who shall read the pages of this 
book. 



[xxi] 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction ...... vii 

Foreword ...... xv 

I. The Religion of Jesus Christ . . 1 
II. The Fruits of the Union ... 17 
III. The Door of the Kingdom ... 37 
IV. The Perils of the Union ... 49 
V. The Peril of Disobedience ... 61 
VI. The Peril of One's Personal Environ- 
ment ....... 77 

VII. The Peril of Arrested Fellowship 

with God ...... 85 

VIII. The Peril of a Wrong Motive . . 97 

IX. The Peril of an Unforgiving Spirit . 113 
X. The Peril of the Useless and Selfish 

Life 121 

XI. The Peril of the Lack of Human 

Fellowship . . . . .131 

XII. Conclusion ...... 149 



I 

THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 



From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. 

Matthew 4:17. 

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which 
when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all 
that he hath, and buyeth that field. 

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly 
pearls: 

Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he 
had, and bought it. 

Matthew 13:44-46. 

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto 
leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole 
was leavened. 

Matthew 13:33. 

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage 
for his son, 

And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: 
and they would not come. 

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, 
Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and 
all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 

Matthew 22:2-4. 



CHAPTER I 

THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

The Kingdom of God is the religion of 
Jesus Christ which he experienced and 
preached and which finally he commanded his 
disciples to preach to every creature in all the 
world. "And it came to pass that Jesus began 
to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the Kingdom 
of Heaven is at hand.' "And He went 
throughout every city and village, preaching 
and shewing the glad tidings of the Kingdom 
of God." "Go thou, and preach the Kingdom 
of God," is the command of Jesus to His dis- 
ciples. They were to limit all their religious 
teaching to the one subject of the Kingdom. 
In doing so they were to follow the example 
of their Master, who considered that his sole 
mission in the world was to experience and 
teach the Kingdom of God. It is the only 
message that Christ has given to the world for 
its salvation. So important did he regard its 
proclamation that when one said unto him, 

[3] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

"Lord, suffer me first to go bury my father," 
Jesus replied; "Let the dead bury their dead: 
but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God/' 
And when another said, "Lord, I will follow 
thee ; but let me first go and bid them farewell, 
which are at home in my house," Jesus said 
to him, "No man, having put Ins hand to the 
plough, and looking back, is fit for the King- 
dom of God." 

What is this Kingdom? "The kingdom of 
God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, 
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." It 
is a personal relationship. ''And when he was 
demanded of the Pharisees, when the King- 
dom should come, he answered them and said, 
"The Kingdom of God cometh not with ob- 
servation : neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or, 
lo, there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God 
is within you." It is fellowship with God, for 
winch man was prepared from the foundation 
of the world, when God made him out of Him- 
self. "Then shall the King say unto them on 
his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world." (Matt. 25 : 34.) 

[*] 



THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

Because God the Father and Man his son 
are of the same nature, both divine, the King- 
dom relationship between them is possible. 
Jesus had this in mind, when he said, "Glo- 
rify Me with Thyself, with the glory which 
I had with Thee, before the world was." No 
one who believes in a personal God to whom 
man is vitally related, will question the pos- 
sibility of such a relationship as the Kingdom 
of God. Those who deny the possibility of 
such a fellowship, must be prepared to deny 
the existence of a personal God. This King- 
dom is a spiritual relationship, in which God's 
spirit bears witness with man's spirit. It is 
a direct relationship between man and God, 
in which no one comes between them, not even 
Christ himself. "Call no man father," Jesus 
said, meaning that no one but God should be 
thought of in that sacred relationship. And 
again, he said, "When you seek your Father, 
enter your closet, and close the door, so that 
you and He will be absolutely alone." Ex- 
clude everyone from that sacred relationship, 
and come directly to God as a son comes to 
his father. You are not to come to Him 

[5] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

through another who is in union with Him, 
but immediately, and alone. It is a relation- 
ship of two, not three, of Father and son, with 
no one between them. It is only in such a 
relationship that a man is in the Kingdom of 
God. This Kingdom, according to the teach- 
ing of Jesus, is the vital thing in religion. 
Through it only, God fulfills His perfect pur- 
pose in the lives of men. It is the one chosen 
instrument in his hand for that purpose. It is, 
therefore, like the net, with which the fisher- 
man catches his fish; like the good seed, by 
which the husbandman makes beautiful and 
fruitful his ground; like the leaven, with 
which the woman transforms her meal into 
wholesome bread. It is Christ's way of sal- 
vation for man, other than which there can be 
none. 

This relationship is a treasure, a hidden 
treasure. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is 
like unto treasure hid in a field; the which 
when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy 
thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and 
buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking 

[6] 



THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

goodly pearls: who, when he had found one 
pearl of great price, went and sold all that he 
had, and bought it." 

Notice that the treasure of each parable is 
the seeker for the treasure of the other. In 
one case, man is the treasure, in the other, 
God. Taken together, the two parables rep- 
resent God and man as seeking each other. 
These two, God and man, are the great treas- 
ures of the universe, each needing the other 
for his completion, neither being sufficient in 
himself. Apart from fellowship with God, 
man is valueless, there is no purpose in his 
existence, he would better not have been born. 
Apart from man, God's very existence would 
have no value. Very strikingly Christ empha- 
sizes these facts in these companion parables 
where man is finding his value in God, and 
God is finding His value in man. It is only 
in this Kingdom that man's infinite worth is 
discovered and revealed, for man's value is 
recognized only as he is seen in his relation- 
ship to a perfect and eternal God. As the 
treasure of the acorn is seen only in its rela- 
tionship to the oak, so the treasure in man is 

I*] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

seen only as he is recognized as a son of God, 
having in him all the possibilities of God's 
perfection. When one thus regards man as 
an embodiment of God, who has put not a 
little of Himself, but all of Himself, into him, 
and has given Himself to all the ministries 
involved in developing and perfecting His 
child, then one sees that man is a treasure of 
infinite value. 

This Kingdom of God is also a regenerating 
relationship. "Another parable spake He 
unto them, The Kingdom of Heaven is like 
unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in 
three measures of meal, until the whole was 
leavened." Union with God is the one natural 
and only possible condition of transformation 
into the image of God. God is the Leaven 
which must be in hidden, spiritual touch with 
man if man is to be regenerated and perfected. 
Personal fellowship with God leavens man. 
Such union enables God to give Himself in- 
creasingly to man until man is filled with all 
of His fullness. "Marvel not," Jesus said to 
Nicodemus, "that I said unto you you must 
be born from above." 

[8] 



THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

One cannot explain the mystery of this 
divine union, any more than one can explain 
the mysteries of other fellowships; but one 
may be sure of the Kingdom because it is an 
experience and not a theory, by the fruit of 
which it may be known. There is no possi- 
bility of perfecting man's soul except as God 
dwells in him, as leaven dwells in meal. This 
is what Jesus means by the parable that we 
are considering: God must be in man, in 
union with his innermost soul. No faith or 
worship will change man into the image of 
God that does not result in this union of God 
and man, such as leaven has with the meal that 
it transforms. What a type of the religion 
of Jesus Christ as he experienced and taught 
it, is given us in the parable of the leaven and 
the meal. This, too, is the religion of Christ 
as St. Paul taught it when he said that he had 
his eye on "the high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus," by which he meant that he realized 
that God must be in him as He was in Jesus 
Christ, if he was to attain to the perfect right- 
eousness of God, as Christ attained it. God 
must be in us as He was in Christ if we, like 

[9] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

Christ, are to be perfected, as God is perfect. 
Let us understand this fact which has been 
so strangely obscured in the Christian Church. 
Our union with God must be exactly the same 
as Christ's. It must be as personal as his was, 
and all that it meant to him it must mean to 
us; otherwise our union with God will never 
do for us what union with God did for Christ. 
The relationship must be the same to us if its 
fruit is to be the same in us. Those who make 
Christ's fellowship with his Father unique and 
peculiar take away for all others all hope of 
sharing its blessed fruit. Indeed they divest 
Christ of all power to save others. Jesus 
declared that his Kingdom was open to all 
men, that all might enjoy his relationship to 
the Heavenly Father. This was his Gospel, 
his good news of the Kingdom of God, a per- 
sonal relationship of the soul to God, such as 
he enjoyed. If such fellowship with God as 
Christ had is open to all men, then all men 
must be divine as he was divine; must be of 
the God substance as fully as he was, though 
not at first in the same degree. All men may 
unite with God as Christ united with Him 

[10] 



THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

because all, with him, are sons of God. There 
is no difference between the nature of one child 
of God and that of all other children of God, 
except in degree. Human nature, apart from 
sin, is the divine nature, as the drop of water 
is the ocean and the tallow dip is the sun. 
The Holy Spirit and man's spirit can blend 
since one is the Father of the other. The 
Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven and meal 
because the Kingdom of Heaven is the union 
of God and man. God leavens man through 
fellowship with Himself, transforming him 
into His own perfect likeness as He imparts 
to him the riches of His own nature. 

The Kingdom is a growing relationship, in 
which all the divine possibilities of man are 
called forth, developed, perfected. 

"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, 
as if a man should cast seed into the ground: 
and should sleep, and rise night and day and 
the seed should spring and grow up, he know- 
eth not how. 

"For the earth bringeth forth fruit of her- 
self; first the blade, then the ear, after that 
the full corn in the ear. 

[ii] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

"But when the fruit is brought forth, imme- 
diately he putteth in the sickle, because the 
harvest is come." 

"He knoweth not how" — how union of 
seed and soil results in the development of 
the seed into all that the plant is from which 
it came, or how union of any imperfect man 
with a perfect God perfects man as God is 
perfect. But we have seen both of these 
things done — have seen the soil transform the 
seed into the plant and have seen fellowship 
with God transform a man (Christ) into the 
perfect likeness of God. 

This growing and perfecting experience of 
God the least of men may have, since the least 
is a son of God. This is what Jesus means 
when he says the Kingdom of Heaven is like 
the least of seeds which when grown is greatest 
of all herbs. Glorious truth, that the least of 
men has in him all the possibilities of the 
perfect God. 

"And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the 
kingdom of God? or with what comparison 
shall we compare it? 

"It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, 

[12] 



THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

when it is sown in the earth, is less than all 
the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is 
sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater 
than all herbs, and shooteth out great 
branches; so that the fowls of the air may 
lodge under the shadow of it." 

Why does he choose the mustard seed rather 
than any other? Because it has greater possi- 
bilities of development than any other and thus 
is well fitted to illustrate the vast possibilities 
of development in the nature of man under 
the growing relationship of the Kingdom. 

It is, also, the only relationship which satis- 
fies the spiritual hunger and thirst of man. 
And Jesus answered and spake unto them 
again by parables, and said "The Kingdom of 
heaven is likened unto a certain king, which 
made a marriage for his son, and sent forth 
his servants to call them that were bidden to 
the wedding; and they would not come. 
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, 
Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have 
made ready my dinner; my oxen and my 
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; 
come to the marriage feast." 

[13] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

The Kingdom of God is like a king's ban- 
quet. It is a glorious truth that the conscious- 
ness of the indwelling presence of God is the 
richest feast that the soul ever tastes. The 
table of the Lord satisfies the hunger of man 
as nothing else can. Union with God makes 
it impossible for a man to feel the depression 
of hopeless loneliness. The soul that is in 
touch with God delights itself with fatness. 
Paul, speaking of his experience of God, said, 
"I have all things because I have Him, even 
now when I have nothing else." That man 
who is in conscious union with God has in 
that union the greatest satisfaction that the 
soul ever knows. 

By giving Himself to us, God gives us the 
banquet of the Kingdom of Heaven. This 
Kingdom, only, satisfies the cravings of man's 
soul. It is the only bread of which if a man 
eats he shall not perish but shall have ever- 
lasting life. It is the only water concerning 
which it can be said, "He that drinketh of it 
shall never thirst." It is the only friendship 
that fully satisfies the soul's hunger. For one 
hungers for a friendship that shall be perfect, 

[14] 









THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST 

that shall be ever available, that shall be ever 
developing, that shall meet every requirement 
of the soul in all its moods ; and only in God 
is such a fellowship spiritually realized. In 
all other unions, precious as they may be, there 
is something lacking. They are at best tem- 
poral. They are available only at intervals. 
They are defective in certain important re- 
spects so that they never fully satisfy the 
cravings of the human soul. We crave union 
with One who shall be with us all the days 
and who shall fulfill our every need. There 
is only one fellowship that perfectly meets 
the hunger and thirst of man: the fellowship 
of the Kingdom of God, which is as a well of 
water, always springing up in the human soul 
unto eternal life. Millions of men testify to 
this fact; they are never alone, because their 
great Friend is with them, since He is in them. 
The baptism of the Holy Spirit, eternal 
life, and Christ, are synonyms for this King- 
dom. They all have exactly the same mean- 
ing, the spiritual, personal relationship of God 
and man as Father and Son. The term 
Christ, with its Hebrew equivalent Messiah, 

[15] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

signifies one in conscious touch with God. A 
mistake is made by those who imagine that this 
Christhood of Jesus relates to his divine na- 
ture, for nothing is more clearly stated in the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament 
than this, that the Messiah, or Christ, is one 
who is in personal relationship with God. 
The king or prophet upon whose head the sanc- 
tifying oil had been poured, signifying that 
he was in touch with God, was a Messianic 
king or prophet. Because God gave the He- 
brews water through a rock, that rock is called 
Christ. When any man enters the Kingdom 
relationship of God, he becomes a Christ, and 
it would be just as proper to add that term 
to his name as it was to add it to the name 
of Jesus. Eternal life is to know God. "And 
this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom 
Thou hast sent." The knowledge of God here 
referred to, is not a theory, but an experience. 
It is to know Him as He only can be known 
by one who lives with Him in the relationship 
of the Kingdom of God. 



[16] 



II 

THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 



But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these 
things shall be added unto you. 

Matthew 6:33. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, good- 
ness, faith, 

Meekness, temperance. 

Galatians 5:22-23. 

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

Matthew 11:28-30. 

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and 
bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 

And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and 
his raiment was white as the fight. 

And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 

Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: 
if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for 
Moses, and one for Elias. 

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold 
a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased; hear ye him. 

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. 

And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. 

And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. 

Matthew 17:1-8. 



CHAPTER II 
THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

What are the fruits of the union with God? 
Jesus says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you." "The fruits of the 
Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kind- 
ness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." 
The first of these fruits is love, such love as is 
never found in man except as he is in the 
Kingdom relationship to God. 

The fruits of the Spirit are the fruits of 
the union of God and man. This union, while 
it does not at first perfect man, does mark the 
beginning of the mighty change in him that is 
to go on until he is perfected. God enters into 
union with man for that purpose. That is His 
aim in seeking union with man, and that must 
be man's aim for himself, in seeking union 
with God. The immediate effect of this union 
is exceeding great. Man plus God is very 
different from man minus God. The least in 

[19] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the Kingdom of God is greater than the great- 
est outside that Kingdom. 

Man in the Kingdom of God is greater than 
all others outside that relationship, first, in 
love for God. The fruit of union with God 
is such love for God as is never found outside 
of that union. Only those who have the Spirit 
of God know God and love Him, for the love 
of God is shed abroad in the human soul by 
the Holy Spirit, It is impossible that love 
for God should dwell in any man in whose 
heart God does not dwell, for no one knows 
God except as he has experience of God. If 
we know Him, so that we love Him, it is be- 
cause He dwells in us. This Kingdom of God 
that fills our hearts with love for Him is not 
such knowledge of Him as comes from with- 
out, but from within. The only God a man 
can love is the God whom he finds in his own 
soul. There is no God outside whom he can 
respect or reverence or love. If he does not 
love the God that is in his own soul he will 
never love any God, for the only God that is 
righteous is the God that is in a man's own 
soul, bearing witness to his spirit. This is the 

[20] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

God that Jesus loved, as he increasingly ex- 
perienced Him through his union with Him. 

God as we see Him in nature and as we 
judge Him in man does not call forth our full 
love. The God of nature rather repels us by 
His seeming unrighteousness and brutal cru- 
elty. The God in human history as we see 
Him is anything but sufficient to fill our hearts 
with supreme affection. But the God with 
whom a man comes in contact in the spirit- 
ual experience of Him is one whom he can 
supremely love. When He is come into a 
man's soul He convinces man of His right- 
eousness and of His truth and of His love. 
The man who dwells in God loves God as no 
other can. I repeat that he who is least in 
the spiritual Kingdom knows more of God 
than the greatest outside that sacred relation- 
ship. The only lovable God is the God whose 
Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of every one 
who surrenders himself to Him. To all such 
God manifests Himself as He does not to the 
world. 

The secret of the Lord is only with those 
who know Him through an experience of 

[21] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

Him. He interprets to them the mystery of 
His Providences, so as to justify them in their 
faith in His supreme righteousness. I repeat, 
only those who are in personal union with God 
love Him, for they only know Him. The only 
man of our race who never doubted God is 
the man who had most of the spirit of God in 
His own soul: Jesus, in whom the Holy Spirit 
dwelt without measure, had measureless love 
for God and measureless faith in God's right- 
eousness. My own experience confirms the 
truth I am teaching in this chapter, for I have 
never so loved God as when I have been con- 
scious of my union with Him and of the won- 
derful fruit of that union. Oh, the unspeak- 
able gratitude and love of one who is conscious 
of the indwelling presence of God, and who 
realizes what that presence is meaning to him ! 
How one's whole soul goes forth in love to 
God when one feels the spirit of God working 
within him, transforming him into the image 
of God; when one has the witness of his son- 
ship to God as he only has who is conscious of 
his union with God; when one beholds "what 
manner of love the Father hath bestowed 

[22] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

upon him that he should be called a son of 
God!" As the spirit of God in a man's soul 
convinces him of his sin and reveals to him 
increasingly the perfect righteousness of God, 
with the assurance of his own final transfor- 
mation into all of its fullness, his soul goes 
forth to God with a supreme affection. How 
unspeakably grateful one is for the light of 
God's presence and for the power that one 
finds in union with Him. The fruit of the 
spirit is love for the spirit; the experience of 
God is that alone which fills the soul with love 
for God. How luminous those words now 
are: "the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts by His spirit." Only the experience 
of God reveals to man the character of God, 
His righteousness, His truth, His love. 

"I have declared Thy name, and will declare 
it; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved 
me, may be in them," Jesus said. His new 
name for God is Father. He was the first to 
realize the full meaning of that name, and to 
declare it to the world; and, for a time, he 
was the Only Begotten Son of God, i. e., the 
only one who realized this most intimate rela- 

[23] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

tionship. It was his consciousness of his son- 
ship that led Him always in speaking of God 
to address Him as Father. "O Righteous 
Father, the world hath not known Thee." 
"Father, Lord of heaven and earth." "Our 
Father." It was because of his faith in God 
as his Father, in whom he existed before the 
world was, and of whom he was a part, that 
Jesus entered into his love for God. It was 
through this channel that the love of God was 
shed abroad in his life, as he beheld what man- 
ner of love the Father had bestowed upon him, 
that he should be called a Son of God. Be- 
lieving as he did that God had put all of Him- 
self into him, as a tree puts all of itself into 
a seed, — and had prepared for him the fullest 
development of all His divine possibility, 
Jesus realized that God had loved him as 
Himself. 

Another fruit of this union, as Christ expe- 
rienced it, is divine love for man, who is recog- 
nized as a brother, since he is also a son of 
God. When one looks upon men in this light, 
he sees their infinite value, and where one's 
treasure is, there will his heart be, also. It is 

[24] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

impossible that men should love one another 
as Christ loved men, unless they see, as Christ 
saw, that men are sons of God. When Jesus 
loved men as he realized God loved him, he 
gave himself wholly to them. It was impos- 
sible for him, regarding God as Father of 
men, to love Him without loving them. Out- 
side this Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ's love 
for God and man is absolutely impossible. It 
is a fruit of that union, apart from which it 
can never exist. 

The love of Jesus Christ for men was God's 
love for them, with which the spirit of God in 
his soul filled him. It was a fruit of Christ's 
union with God. It is a type and degree of 
love for man that is never found except in the 
soul of a man who is in union with God. It 
was God in Christ that led Christ to so love 
men as to give himself to them and for them 
that they might not perish. It was not Christ's 
belief, merely, that all men were his brothers, 
that filled his heart with love for them; it 
was the uncreated, unmerited love of God 
for them, with which union with God filled 
Christ's soul. It was the love of God for men, 

[25] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

shed abroad in the heart of Christ by the 
Spirit of God. Jesus knew this, knew that 
his love for men was God's love for them. He 
knew that he went forth to save men because 
his Father sent him. He knew that all good 
works he did were done because they were 
inspired by the loving God dwelling in him. 
He said, "There is none good but God. The 
works that I do and the words that I speak 
are given me by Him whose spirit dwells in 
my soul." 

Coordinate with the fruit of love is that of 
truth. The Spirit of God is also the Spirit 
of Truth. There is no variableness, or shadow 
of turning, in our Heavenly Father. "Let 
me be true, though every man be a liar." 
There is no darkness of falsehood in Him. 
Union with Him, therefore, brings to the soul 
a growing vision of truth. "And when He 
is come, He will lead you into all truth," our 
Lord said. 

As men yield themselves to God, making 
His law supreme, they are freed from all those 
things that blind them to truth. Their atti- 
tude toward God becomes their attitude 

[26] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

toward truth. Their body is full of light 
because their eye is single. They see truth 
because their hearts are pure. Guided by the 
inner light, men see error as they could not 
otherwise see it and are led into truth as they 
could not otherwise find it. Men write and 
speak truth as they are moved by the Spirit 
of God. The clearness of their spiritual vi- 
sion is determined by the completeness of their 
union with God. He is never able to reveal 
all of His truth to any man, but increasingly 
He enlightens men concerning His purposes 
of love. Jesus declares that one who is guided 
by the Holy Spirit shall have the light of life. 
Another fruit of this union is righteous- 
ness. "And when he is come, he will reprove 
the world of sin and of righteousness, and of 
judgment. Of righteousness, because I go to 
my Father, and ye see me no more." Union 
with God results in the revelation to man of 
God's righteousness. What the sun is to the 
eye, God is to the conscience. Without vital 
union with Him conception of His righteous- 
ness is as impossible as is vision of the world 
to the man whose eye is not related to the 

[27] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

light. Blindness to the righteousness of God 
is inevitable in the case of every man who is 
not like Jesus Christ, in the Kingdom rela- 
tionship to God. Nature cannot reveal the 
righteousness of God, since nature is as yet 
imperfect. Neither can man make that reve- 
lation, since his righteousness, at best, is 
incomplete. But the fruit of conscious rela- 
tionship to God is that His righteousness is 
manifested to His son. One of the surest 
evidences of the presence of God is a quick- 
ened conscience. 

The righteousness of God is the righteous- 
ness of love, and the righteousness of truth. 
So Jesus Christ taught. No righteousness 
that is not of truth and love is the righteous- 
ness of the Kingdom of God. Nothing is 
righteous as God is righteous, except it be 
true. Men do not gather figs of brambles; 
no more can they gather righteousness from 
error, or from hate. In these days, when 
falsehood is supposed, in many cases, to pro- 
mote righteousness, it is wise to emphasize the 
fact, "Let your communications be, Yea, yea; 
Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these 

[28] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

cometh of evil" While the vision of God's 
righteousness, and power to fulfill it, can come 
only to those who are in the Kingdom rela- 
tionship to Him, it js nevertheless necessary 
that one confirm his conception of God's right- 
eousness by the double test of love and truth. 
Another fruit of the Kingdom of God is 
power, superhuman power, the power of God 
which comes to man through his union with 
Him, enabling him to accomplish works other- 
wise absolutely beyond him. "Ye shall receive 
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come 
upon you." "For the Kingdom of God is not 
in word, but in power." "Who hath delivered 
us from the power of darkness, and hath 
translated us into the kingdom of his dear 
Son." "Take my yoke upon you," Jesus said, 
"and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my 
yoke is easy, and my burden is light." His 
yoke represents the union of two, God and 
man, which makes man's heaviest burden light. 
"Give us this day, our daily bread;" the 
strength of union with Thee in that Kingdom, 
and we shall not be overcome by temptation, 
but shall be delivered from evil. When we 

[29] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

are weak (in ourselves alone), then are we 
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His 
might. Strength for all the work God has 
given us to do, in overcoming the temptations 
of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and in 
fulfilling all the sacred obligations of our life 
as children of His, comes daily to us as we 
abide in union with Him. 

The Kingdom relationship to God is the 
rock upon which the Church of Christ must 
rest if it is to permanently endure. That is 
the only foundation that Christ has laid, or that 
can be laid, for his people to rest upon. In 
it only can they hope to find sufficient strength 
to withstand the temptations of the world, the 
flesh, the devil. That rock is not Peter, but 
Peter's experience, direct and immediate, of 
the presence of God. Only as men share that 
experience are they members of the true 
Church, and, as such, entitled to the assurance, 
"the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
thee." It is only in the power of that rela- 
tionship that the evils of the world are over- 
come, the man's eternal, spiritual interests 
secured. 

[30] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

Peace is also a fruit of this Kingdom union 
with God, peace of conscience through the 
pardon of all one's sins, to which pardon the 
answer of a good conscience toward God and 
man bears witness; the peace that comes only 
to one who is conscious of union with God in 
whose care he knows his every interest is se- 
cure ; the peace that passes the understanding 
of all who do not know its secret, which is the 
presence, power and confidence that God is in 
union with him so that he need fear no evil; 
the peace of Christ which the world can 
neither give nor take away, but which dwells 
in the breast of every one who is conscious of 
the presence within him of the eternal God, 
and who can therefore say, "The Lord is my 
shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to 
lie down in green pastures, He restore th my 
soul, Yea though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for 
Thou art with me." Oh, the peace the man 
has who has God dwelling in him! In that 
union man finds all that goes to make up pure 
joy: love, harmony, beauty, strength, right- 
eousness, truth, peace. 

[31] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

Another fruit of the union is joy; a type 
of joy that can only exist where this union 
obtains. It is the "joy of heaven to earth 
come down;" the joy of one's conscious son- 
ship to God, and of daily fellowship with 
Him; the joy of the experience of His love, 
and of love for men who bear His name ; the 
joy of service to God in the highest and holi- 
est ministries of His love; the joy of giving 
joy to those in sorrow; the joy of declaring 
the good news of the Kingdom of joy; the 
joy of saving men from sin; the joy of antici- 
pation of the world of joy. Words cannot 
express the type of joy of the experience of 
this highest, and holiest, and happiest of all 
the relationships of the universe and of shar- 
ing all with others. In the Parable of the 
Prodigal Son, Jesus indicates what a man 
may expect to find when he enters into union 
with God, his Father. 

"And he arose, and came to his father. But 
when he was yet a great way off, his father 
saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and 
fell on his neck, and kissed him. 

"And the son said unto him, Father, I have 

[32] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and 
am no more worthy to be called thy son." 

"But the father said to his servants, Bring 
forth the best robe, and put it on him; and 
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; 
and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; 
and let us eat, and be merry ; for this my son 
was dead, and is alive again, he was lost and 
is found." 

A few days before his death Jesus gave his 
disciples a single glimpse of what the King- 
dom of God meant to him. "There are some 
standing here," he said, "who shall not taste 
death till they see the Kingdom of God." 
"And after eight days he taketh Peter, James 
and John with him and was transfigured be- 
fore them." It was of that experience that 
Peter declared, speaking of the event long 
afterward, that he and James and John saw 
the glory of his Master. It was when Jesus 
was transfigured, by his consciousness of the 
presence of God on the Mount, that his three 
disciples had a single glimpse of his fellowship 
with God, which he always speaks of as the 
Kingdom of God. It was the only occasion 

[33] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

on which Jesus permitted men to see him in 
prayer; at all other times when he prayed he 
entered into his closet and closed the door. 
From his nearest disciples he withdrew a suf- 
ficient distance when he prayed, so that they 
should not see him when he was most conscious 
of the presence of God. But he made a single 
exception, and as he prayed his countenance 
expressed the glory of the experience of God 
that filled his whole soul. To the three on- 
looking disciples the very clothes of Jesus 
seemed changed by his close experience of 
God, and his countenance shone like the sun 
as it reflected the glory of that intimate expe- 
rience of the presence of the Heavenly Father. 
Remember that this transfiguration scene is a 
scene of the Kingdom of God as Jesus experi- 
enced it, on this earth and while he was in the 
flesh. It is therefore such an experience of 
God as any man may have who follows Christ 
into the Divine presence, and experiences God 
as the result of the surrender of his will to him. 
I am sure that God will come as near to us 
as He came to Christ when we surrender our 
wills to Him as fully as Christ did. If any 

[34] 



THE FRUITS OF THE UNION 

man would see what the Kingdom of God 
meant to Christ let him see Jesus in that 
Kingdom on the Mount of Transfiguration. 
Then God was so real to Jesus that his very 
face was like the sun. And notice the glorious 
fact that in that hour of Christ's experience 
of God he was also conscious of the presence 
of those who were with God. Moses and 
Elias were with Him and Jesus was as sure 
of their presence as he was of God's presence ; 
they were as real to him as God was. If this 
be true, then one who dwells with God in the 
relationship of His Kingdom, may have com- 
munion not only with Him but with others 
who are with Him, both in this world and also 
in that which is beyond the veil of death. 
Experience of the presence of God should 
mean also experience of the presence of spirits 
of just men made perfect with Him after 
death. 



[35] 



Ill 

THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 



Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the 
eheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth 
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the 
sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 

And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know 
not the voice of strangers. 

This parable spake Jesu3 unto them: but they understood not what things 
they were which he spake unto them. 

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the 
door of the sheep. 

All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not 
hear them. 

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in 
and out, and find pasture. 

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come 
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

John 10:1-10. 



CHAPTER III 
THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 

Our Lord found in his day that those who 
were supposed to be guides to the King- 
dom were blind to its very existence. "But 
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites ! for ye shut up the Kingdom of heaven 
against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, 
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go 
in." He had these same leaders of his church 
in mind, when he said, "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that entereth not by the door into 
the sheepfold (Kingdom of God), but climb- 
eth up some other way, the same is a thief and 
a robber." 

Jesus means here that everyone who seeks 
to come to God in any other way than his way 
is by that very fact proved to be seeking Him 
from a wrong motive. A selfish motive for 
seeking God will always blind one to the true 
way to Him. It was because the Jewish lead- 
ers were not willing to pay the price of obedi- 

[39] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ence to God that they sought a less expensive 
way to Him. They wanted to steal into His 
favor by a sacrifice less costly than that of 
their sinful lusts; therefore they blindly of- 
fered God the blood of bulls and beasts and 
birds in place of the surrender of their wills; 
but they could not thus steal into fellowship 
with Him; all their efforts to come to God 
in a way other than Christ's proved fruitless, 
as all such efforts must always prove. Still 
multitudes of those who bear the name of 
Christ are trying to climb up into the presence 
of God in some other way than Christ's. They 
are not willing to narrow their lives to the 
extent they must in order to make them 
straight, for it does narrow one's way in many 
respects to make it straight, — narrows one's 
speech and conduct. It gradually contracts 
one's life to make it conform to the will of 
God, which is always the will of righteousness, 
truth and love; but such narrowing is most 
desirable since nothing that is wide at the 
expense of being crooked can be of any pos- 
sible profit. Only through Christ's straight 
door can one enter into fellowship with God. 

[40] 



THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 

Jesus declares that few there be that find 
the way and the gate by which a soul may 
enter into union with God. "Strive," he said, 
"to enter in at the straight gate, for many 
shall seek to enter in but shall not be able to." 
Few there be that find it — how sadly true 
these words are today, of the multitudes that 
seek a personal experience of God; how few 
ever find it as Christ enjoyed it. How few 
experience God in His Kingdom relationship. 
Few there be that find God because few there 
be that seek Him where Christ said He might 
be found. The fault is not with God; He 
does not hide Himself from men ; He is more 
willing to give His spirit than parents are to 
give good gifts to their children. God hun- 
gers for fellowship with every one of His 
children more than any one of them hungers 
for fellowship with Him, — He cannot be con- 
tent with ninety-nine per cent, of His sheep, 
but must needs seek till He finds the hun- 
dredth, also. He is like the woman who sought 
her tenth piece of silver till she found it. God 
is always seeking union with man; always 
ready to give His Holy Spirit to him. 

[41] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

Every one who truly follows Christ will be 
led by him into the presence of God. Who- 
ever seeks God as he sought Him will find 
Him as he found Him; whoever asks the 
Spirit, as he asked, will have the Spirit given 
him ; whoever knocks at the door of the King- 
dom as he knocked will find it opening to 
him; whoever comes to God as Christ came 
will in no wise be cast out; whoever fulfills 
the conditions of fellowship with God as Jesus 
fulfilled them will realize the presence of God 
as Jesus realized it. There is no other way 
to God than that by which Christ came to 
Him. There is no other Name but his by 
which one can ask and receive the Spirit of 
God. But asking in his name is asking as 
he asked; coming in his name is coming as 
he came. It was the great mission of Christ 
to experience God and so reveal the way to 
Him. 

Here we have to be most careful. Many 
seek entrance into the Kingdom of God in 
vain. Jesus does not seem to fulfill his prom- 
ise of serving as a door through which men 
may pass into the conscious presence of the 

[42] 



THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 

Heavenly Father. Many who have attempted 
through Christ to find God confess that they 
have utterly failed in their quest; that all of 
their years of following Christ have not re- 
sulted in their being led into the conscious 
presence of God; Jesus has not proved to be 
for them the way to the Father, the door into 
His Kingdom. They do not deny the reality 
of the religious experience of Jesus, or of 
others who claim through him to have found 
God. They account for their own spiritual 
failure on the ground that they are non-reli- 
giously gifted. In their judgment the spirit- 
ual experience of Jesus is not available to 
all men, but only to those who are spiritually 
gifted. This is not the teaching of Jesus, 
however, but the contrary, for he offers the 
Kingdom of God to every man upon the same 
condition. His religion is available to all who 
are in a condition to fulfill its requirements, as 
all may who are willing to pay the price of 
obedience to God. 

What is Christ's way to God? Upon what 
conditions may one have Christ's religious 
experience? His way is as natural as that by 

[43] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

a door into a house. What if a man were to 
seek the presence of the sun, without its light 
and heat? Equally fruitless is every effort 
that man makes to realize the presence of 
God while he does not desire and pray for all 
that that presence must bring of righteous- 
ness, truth and love. Prayer for these is 
prayer for Him. To desire them is to desire 
Him. Anv desire for God that does not mean 
desire for what He is can never open the door 
into His presence. For God gives His spirit 
to profit withal. Oh, the depth of meaning 
in this word! He comes only to those who 
are prepared to receive His light, His truth, 
His love. Many ask and receive not, because 
they ask amiss, that they may make God min- 
ister to their lusts. Christ found God because 
he sought in God what God is. What was 
Jesus' motive for seeking fellowship with his 
Father? Jesus loved God because he loved 
righteousness and truth and love. Because he 
loved these with all his heart he loved God 
supremely, since he believed that God su- 
premely embodied them all. No one can have 
Christ's reason for seeking fellowship with 

[44] 



THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 

God who does not share Christ's conception of 
God. 

Christ sought union with God that he might 
become like God. "Glorify me that I may 
glorify thee." No man is seeking God where 
Christ found Him if he is not seeking God 
with Christ's conception of Him and for 
Christ's reasons for seeking union with Him. 
Let me make this very clear. Have you ever 
sought God where Christ found Him and 
where he declares He may be found of every 
man? Yes, — and you did not find Him there! 
You must have mistaken the place. Consider 
very carefully where Christ experienced God, 
namely where his whole will was surrendered 
to the will of God. That is what baptism 
meant to Jesus, and that is why in connec- 
tion with his baptism he is said to have had 
experience of God both as to His touch and 
His voice. Baptism was the sign of Christ's 
supreme consecration of himself to his Father, 
the consecration not of the servant to the mas- 
ter, but of the son to the Father. When St. 
Paul found disciples of Christ who had not 
heard of a spiritual experience like Christ's 

[45] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

he immediately inquired of them concerning 
their baptism, feeling sure that their baptism 
could not have meant to them what Christ's 
baptism meant to him, since it had not resulted 
in bringing them to God. The apostle found 
that his suspicion was true, namely that their 
baptism had not symbolized the consecration 
of themselves to the will of God. He there- 
fore insisted that they be baptized again with 
such baptism as Christ had experienced, and 
when they did this they found themselves in 
the consciousness of the presence of God. 
The form of baptism matters not, but what 
is symbolized represents the full surrender of 
the soul to God, and this is the one condition 
of fellowship with Him. 

Because of His wealth of love, God has 
offered Himself to every one of His children. 
In a beautiful passage of Scripture, He is rep- 
resented as running to meet a repentant child 
of His. It is the only case in which God 
is seen running, and His haste is that He 
may be united with a son in the Kingdom 
relationship. 

Very clearly Jesus pointed out the way 

[46] 



THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM 

into the Kingdom, to a certain scribe. "And 
the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou 
hast said the truth : for there is one God ; and 
there is none other but he: and to love Him 
with all the heart, and with all the understand- 
ing, and with all the soul, and with all the 
strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, 
is more than all whole burnt offerings and 
sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he an- 
swered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art 
not far from the kingdom of God." 

That man who understands that he is to 
love God and man is on the threshold of the 
Kingdom of God. All he needs to do to enter, 
is to consecrate himself to the obedience of his 
faith. Reader, thou art not far from union 
with God, if thou art about to seek that union, 
not in forms and dogmas of religion, but in 
the practice of holy love. Thou art at the 
door of the Kingdom ; thou hast but to knock 
with the hand of obedience and it will open 
to thee. 



[47] 



IV 
THE PERILS OF THE UNION 



Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the 
devil. 

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an 
hungred. 

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, 
command that these stones be made bread. 

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pin- 
nacle of the temple, 

And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is 
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they 
phaTl bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God. 

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and 
sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 

And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down 
and worship me. 

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto 
him. 

Matthew 4:1-11. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE PERILS OF THE UNION 

But this life of union with God is not with- 
out certain perils which must be considered. 
The Kingdom of God is a growing kingdom. 
In this respect it is like seed sown in a field. 
For man is a seed of God, and the Kingdom 
of relationship is the only soil in which he can 
develop. We have seen how this union is 
effected, — what the condition of entrance into 
it is. We have now to consider how it 
may be maintained, until it shall have 
completed its perfect work in the heart of 
man. 

This union is subject to the peril of inter- 
ruption. Many things may mar it. First, 
there is the peril of misconception of God's 
will, by which Jesus was confronted immedi- 
ately after his consecration of himself to do 
his Father's will. It was not a question with 
him then as to his purpose to obey God; his 
aim in that direction was fixed. But immedi- 

[51] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ately he experienced great difficulty in discov- 
ering what that will was. 

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into 
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and 
was with the wild beasts; and when he had 
fasted fortv days and fortv nights, he was 
afterward an hungered. And the tempter 
came and said unto him, If thou art the Son 
of God, command that these stones become 
bread. But he answered and said, It is writ- 
ten, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God. Then the devil taketh him into the 
holy city, and he set him on the pinnacle of 
the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art 
the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is 
written, He shall give his angels charge con- 
cerning thee: and, on their hands they shall 
bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot 
against a stone. Jesus said unto him, Again 
it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord 
thy God. Again, the devil taketh him unto 
an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him 
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory 
of them, and he said unto him, All these things 

[52] 



PERILS OF THE UNION 

will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get 
thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt 
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him; and 
behold, angels came and ministered unto him." 

The figure that represents our Lord's ex- 
periences, in seeking knowledge of the will of 
God, is very striking. A wilderness, with wild 
beasts, exactly represents it. For there were 
on every hand perils of error as to what God 
willed concerning him, perils which must ut- 
terly destroy him if he were overcome by 
them. These came to him out of what he had 
been taught to regard as the will of God, out 
of what his Church taught and what his Bible 
taught. He was tempted to believe in mira- 
cles wrought in violation of nature's laws. He 
was tempted to believe in the necessity for 
using wrong means to secure good ends. All 
through his life he was exposed to this peril 
of misconception of the will of God, and 
against this temptation he prayed, up to the 
very last. 

Mankind has always been exposed to this 

[53] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

danger. In seeking what they have supposed 
to be the will of God, men have sacrificed on 
His altar their children and their cattle ; they 
have wrecked their reason, ruined their homes, 
desolated their lives; they have found them- 
selves in a wilderness, full of ravenous beasts. 
He who will consider what the Bible teaches 
in some of its parts, and what men have imag- 
ined to be the will of God, will see clearly 
that the figure of a desolate wilderness, filled 
with ravenous beasts, is a fitting illustration 
of the perils to which every man is exposed 
who is sincerely consecrated to do the will of 
his Heavenly Father. Jesus was saved from 
this peril by his refusing to believe that it was 
God's will that he should violate any law of 
nature or of conscience. Light concerning the 
will of God came to him through his aim and 
motive. Nothing that contradicted either, 
would he believe to be the will of God. Aim- 
ing at perfection for himself and for others, 
he was protected as he could not otherwise 
have been, from mistakes concerning the will 
of God. 

And Christ is the way for us to know the 

[54] 



PERILS OF THE UNION 

will of the Heavenly Father. He believed 
that God only could reveal His will to him; 
therefore he sought knowledge of that will in 
prayer. The Spirit of God gave him guidance 
as the Spirit quickened his sense of righteous- 
ness and so gave him clearer vision of God's 
will, for he knew that God never willed any 
unrighteous thing, under any circumstances. 
His conception of God as absolute righteous- 
ness guarded him from all misconceptions of 
the will of God by which unrighteous men 
have been deceived. He knew that what was 
not right was not of God. He saw clearly 
what the will of God was, because he had a 
clear conception of the righteousness of God, 
as the result of his experience of the Spirit of 
God. All around him were those whose teach- 
ing concerning God's will reflected upon 
God's love and truth. Jesus knew that noth- 
ing that men did that contradicted either was 
of God. He would not accept as a word of 
God, any word that contradicted the Spirit 
of God. He therefore set aside many of the 
traditions of the Church of his day. 

In the moral world Jesus had clear guid- 
es] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ance as to the will of God in his conception 
and experience of God as righteousness, truth 
and love, for he knew that nothing that his 
Bible taught or that men taught in his day 
concerning the will of God was true unless it 
was confirmed by love and truth and right- 
eousness. He did not believe that it was the 
will of God that exceptions be made to any 
of the laws of God. They were all wisely 
ordained and it was necessary that their uni- 
formitv be maintained in order that God's 

ml 

love and righteousness be not violated. Jesus 
would not make an exception for himself that 
he would not make for all others similarly cir- 
cumstanced. He repelled the idea that be- 
cause he was Son of God he was free from 
the necessity of obeying the laws of God. He 
would not believe that God willed that he get 
his bread in any less costly way than others 
got theirs; nor that a miracle would be 
wrought for his protection from death that 
would not be wrought for all others in like 
peril. He had no idea that God's love for 
him was so special that God would give him 
help that others could not have. He was 

[56] 



PERILS OF THE UNION 

indeed tempted to believe that he would be 
compelled to depend upon the devil for help 
to fulfill His wishes. We are told that the 
devil said to him, "All these things will I give 
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
When it seemed that a righteous end could 
not be had by righteous means, since no mira- 
cle was to be expected to secure it, then the 
thought came to Jesus that it might be the will 
of God that he use evil means to win good 
results. That was a most dangerous and sub- 
tle temptation. It was one of the wild beasts 
by which Jesus' soul and mission were imper- 
illed and by which both must have been de- 
stroyed, had he yielded. Oh, the whole world 
seems to have yielded to this horrible delusion 
that it may be the will of God that one bow 
the knee to Satan to win the world to God! 
One great Protestant nation has boldly de- 
clared that she is doing the very will of God 
while she is employing the most cruelly unjust 
means to secure what she claims are right 
ends. She could not trust God for success 
for a right cause if she had not bowed her knee 
to the use of a wrong means. "It is God's 

[57] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

will that we do evil that good may come. It 
is necessary that we wrong the innocent to 
punish the guilty. It is the will of God that 
we trample the sacred rights of others under 
our feet in a good cause." 

Jesus Christ was not deceived by this plea 
as it came to him increasingly throughout his 
whole life. His faith hi the righteousness of 
God was such as to protect him fully from it: 
he would not believe that it was ever the will 
of God that anyone, under any circumstances, 
or for any reason., practice any falsehood or 
unrighteousness. He did not believe that 
right ends are secured by wrong means ; that 
men gather figs of thorns., or that God is ever 
under necessity of consenting to a lesser evil 
in order to prevent a greater one. Jesus 
Christ would not believe that a righteous God 
is ever moved by an unrighteous motive or 
method or thought; therefore he escaped all 
those misconceptions of God's will by which 
others were deluded because the God they 
worshiped was not holy. Xever has the 
world seen a man so fully tested as Christ was 
in his faith in the righteousness of God. He, 

[68] 



PERILS OF THE UNION 

more than all others, had reason to doubt the 
final triumph of righteousness through the 
sole use of righteous means, for he saw evil 
in its most fearful power facing righteousness 
in its great feebleness, but his faith in God did 
not falter. "Every plant," he cried, "which 
my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be 
rooted up." And, again, in the very day in 
which he was to be crucified he had such mag- 
nificent confidence in the ultimate triumph of 
the righteousness of God as enabled him to 
declare, "I will yet draw all men unto me." 
And, oh! marvel of marvels, Jesus of Naza- 
reth believed that the very efforts men were 
making to defeat righteousness would result 
in enthroning it. He believed that God would 
cause that the unholy means by which they 
were seeking to defeat His will would result 
in its fulfilment. His sublime faith in the 
righteousness of God, of which he had a wit- 
ness in his own soul in the presence of the 
Spirit of God, enabled him to escape all the 
temptations that appealed to him to pervert 
the will of God. In a word, I repeat that 
Jesus knew the will of God because he knew 

[59] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the character of God, which he knew because 
he was filled with the Spirit of God. Only 
as we share his spiritual experience of God 
shall we have any hope whatever of discerning 
the will of God as he discerned it. 



[60] 



V 
THE PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 






_-t:i. : :: i - 
— _ _ 



::i 



CHAPTER V 
THE PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER 

The perils of the growing Kingdom of 
God are enforced again in the Parables of 
the Sower, and of the Tares of the Field. In 
these related Parables Jesus strikingly illus- 
trates why men fail to enter the Kingdom, 
or, why, having entered, they do not remain 
therein. 

The seed that fell by the wayside and was 
caught away by the birds represents those 
who hear the word of the Kingdom of God, 
but do not accept it. They fail to accept it, 
Jesus declares, because they do not under- 
stand what the Kingdom is. They make light 
of it as they could not do if they knew it to 
be a relationship with God, through which 
alone their souls can be transformed into His 
perfect image. No one who knows what fel- 
lowship with God means, — that love for Him 
and man, that righteousness, peace, power, joy, 

[63] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

and rest, — can possibly fail to covet it above 
all other things, to prize it so highly as to 
count it cheap at any cost. No one who knows 
the value of such a treasure will permit it to 
be caught away from him ; or having entered 
into that fellowship will give it in exchange 
for anything in the world. Nothing but blind- 
ness to its beauty and its perfecting power 
can account for the failure of men to enter 
instantly and gratefully into its experience. 

"Then cometh the evil one, to catch it 
away." It is the evil in men that blinds them 
to the treasure of the Kingdom, and so pre- 
vents them from accepting it. It is man's 
desire to remain in evil thinking and practice, 
that keeps him from entering into that fellow- 
ship with God which demands that he turn 
away from all these. Very striking is the 
reason that Jesus gives for men's failures to 
enter into his Kingdom, as he declares that 
the evil one is responsible. This man who 
hears but does not receive the Kingdom of 
God, represents all those whose ears are not 
open to its appeals, whose hearts do not re- 
spond to its meaning, and who, therefore, 

[64] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

utterly fail to enter into its rich experiences. 
Would that they might see what they are 
losing in their ignorant rejection of the King- 
dom of God! 

Then there are those who receive seed in 
stony places. These are they who hear the 
word of the Kingdom, and at once, for joy, 
enter therein. But their fellowship with God 
is quickly subject to interruption through dis- 
obedience to His will; for, whenever disobe- 
dience occurs, the growth of the Kingdom is 
arrested. It matters not whether the viola- 
tion of God's will is through ignorance or wil- 
fulness, the same result follows, and the child 
of God is conscious of an embarrassment in 
his relationship to his Heavenly Father. It 
is well this is the case, as such interruptions 
warn men to seek and remove their causes. It 
is in this way that men are convinced of their 
imperfections and sins, since these manifest 
themselves through the interruptions of fellow- 
ship with God which they invariably cause. 

Often a man is conscious that he is out of 
harmony with God, but does not recognize the 
discordant note. He sees that the plant is 

[65] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

withering, but, as yet, knows not the reason. 
He feels that a cloud has come between him 
and the sun, not because he, as yet, sees the 
cloud, but because the light is obscured. 
This Kingdom relationship is educational. 
Through it only does God reveal His will to 
man, whom He perfects by removing all that 
prevents its growth. For all that interferes 
with the growth of the Kingdom of God, also 
prevents the development of the man who is 
in that sacred relationship. Both the King- 
dom and the children of the Kingdom grow 
together. Whatever fault or imperfection 
there is in man mars the relationship; and it 
is as man realizes that the relationship is 
marred that he is led to seek and find the thing 
in himself which has marred it. And so he 
is perfected through his fellowship with God 
as he perfects that relationship by the removal 
from himself of all that it discloses of his 
imperfections and sins. 

Nothing is more certain than this, that what 
rich soil is to a seed, fellowship with God is 
to man, that as only the soil has power to 
call forth from the seed the hidden plant, so 

[66] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

only spiritual, personal fellowship with God 
has power to reveal and correct men's imper- 
fections. As a man succeeds daily in main- 
taining his fellowship with God and in remov- 
ing everything that mars it, as such things 
are disclosed to him, he goes on in the perfect- 
ing of himself and his relationship with his 
perfect Father in Heaven; and at last the 
Scripture is fulfilled which predicts that when 
every evil is removed, the man who is in this 
fellowship will shine as the sun in the King- 
dom of his Father. 

The one condition, therefore, that must be 
fulfilled by every one who would be per- 
fected in soul, is continuous obedience to God, 
through which, alone, fellowship with Him 
can be maintained. The seed that fell on 
stony ground represents those who enter into 
fellowship with God without counting the cost 
of maintaining that fellowship through prac- 
tice of obedience to the will of God. Jesus 
very significantly says concerning these men 
that "anon, for joy, they receive the word of 
the Kingdom of God." By that statement he 
means, not that they have gladly entered into 

[67] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

fellowship with God through the door of 
obedience, with full determination to keep 
that door forever opened, but that they have 
sought the Kingdom solely because of the joy 
that they thought they would find therein. 
"For joy" they entered the Kingdom. But 
when they found that in connection with the 
joy of the Kingdom there was suffering and 
persecution, which they had not anticipated, 
and which they were not prepared to experi- 
ence, their faith withered and died as the seed 
growing in surface soil is shriveled by the 
burning sun. These men would not suffer for 
righteousness' sake. They would not bear 
witness to truth when fidelity to truth meant 
persecution. They would not love, when to 
love was costly. They wanted the joy of the 
Lord without his experience of suffering and 
death. They wanted his crown, but not his 
cross. These men are the seed that fell on the 
stony ground. How many there are like them! 
In vain do all such persons enter the Kingdom 
of God. Fruitless are all their efforts to secure 
its reward without paying the price of the 
practice of righteousness, truth and love. 

[68] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

The seed choked with the thorns represents 
those who enter into the relationship with 
God, and continue to abide therein until they 
find that fellowship with Him involves con- 
tradiction of their worldly lusts and selfish 
ambitions. 

Jesus saw clearly that the love of money 
would make it impossible for some men to 
dwell in the Kingdom of God. "It is easier," 
he said, "for a camel to go through the eye of 
a needle than for a rich man to enter into the 
Kingdom of God." Nothing so surely blinds 
one to the will of God as the love of money. 
Nothing more surely holds men back from 
the practice of God's holy law of love than this 
selfish love. It is one of the deadliest foes of 
fellowship with God. Many of those who 
bear the name of Christ have permitted their 
love of money to kill their love for man and 
so their union with God. Men who are not 
fulfilling the law of righteousness and love in 
their money-getting and money-spending can- 
not maintain the fellowship of the Kingdom. 

It is impossible also, that one should do the 
will of God without coming into collision with 

[69] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

those who do it not. Persecution must follow 
in the relationships of life in which we are 
placed; one's loyalty to God must be most 
severely tested by the opposition to Him 
which is sure to develop. Persecution will 
arise because of the word, or will, of God. So 
it was with Christ, who was hated by selfish 
men in proportion as he was loyal to God. 
Doing the will of God in His Kingdom meant 
that Jesus was unable to do the will of his 
friends, his mother, his disciples ; his foes were 
of his own household, as well as those without. 
No one was in fellowship with him in his re- 
ligious life except those who shared his pur- 
pose to do the will of God. Persecution of 
him arose on every side because of the word 
of God which he preached and by which he 
lived. One who is not willing to suffer for 
righteousness' sake need not hope to remain 
in fellowship with the righteous God, for it 
is impossible that one's union with God should 
continue after one has refused to practise obe- 
dience to the will of God, even at the expense 
of persecution from those who are opposed to 
that will. 

[70] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

The good seed on the thorny ground is said 
to have been choked by the thorns, by which 
Jesus means that a man's union with God 
must be vital, if he is to maintain it at the 
expense of enduring all the persecution that 
will come upon him because of his loyalty to 
the will of God. No man will ever be called 
to suffer more because of his obedience to God, 
to righteousness, truth and love, than Jesus 
suffered; but, alas, how many surrender the 
will of God to the will of those with whom 
they are connected, rather than lose their 
human fellowship. How few care enough for 
fellowship with God to maintain it at the 
expense of loss of fellowship with unspiritual 
men. When it becomes clear to them that 
they cannot worship God and mammon, that 
obedience to the will of God must be fulfilled 
in their money getting, their money spending, 
their human relationships, and in all the things 
of their material life, their obedience ceases, 
and they pass out of the Kingdom relation- 
ship with their Heavenly Father. The thorns 
choke the good seed. In the very moment of 
their disobedience of God's laws, their spirit- 

[71] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ual life ends. But it is doubtful whether 
these men realize this sad truth. The chances 
are that they continue to maintain the forms 
and speak the words of the Kingdom, though 
their experience of it has entirely ceased; that 
they still retain their lamps, after their light 
has gone out ; that they continue to call them- 
selves children of the Kingdom, though they 
have passed out of its holy relationship. In 
them is fulfilled the statement made concern- 
ing Samson, that "the Lord was departed 
from him," though he wist it not. 

The seed that fell on the good soil and 
remained in it until it brought forth its per- 
fect fruit, represents those who abide in fel- 
lowship with God and are therein purified 
from all their sins and perfected in every 
grace of the Heavenly Father. One signifi- 
cant statement is made concerning these men 
that is not made with reference to those who 
enter the Kingdom but fail of its perfect fruit. 
And it is this one thing that distinguishes 
them from other types of Christians. It is the 
thing that explains their success in escaping 
all the perils of the Kingdom, by which all 

[72] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

others were overcome. It is, therefore, the 
one thing needful for all who would, like them, 
abide in union with God unceasingly and unto 
eternal life. "They understood the King- 
dom." I repeat, this is not said of any except 
those who through the Kingdom were per- 
fected. It was their understanding of the 
Kingdom that protected them from its perils. 
What is meant by this saying: "They un- 
derstood the Kingdom?" It is a very com- 
prehensive statement, very much more so than 
we shall be able to reveal. For this under- 
standing of the Kingdom comes only to those 
who have had growing experience of it. They 
understand the value of their sonship to God, 
with its growing relationship to their Heav- 
enly Father, through which they partake of 
His power, inherit His righteousness, enjoy 
His peace, feast on His love. They under- 
stand it as they experience its transforming, 
leavening, regenerating power. They under- 
stand it as they experience its growth ; as they 
develop day by day into the likeness of their 
Heavenly Father. They understand it, in its 
eternal value, as the one perfecting relation- 

[73] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ship for human souls in all the universe. They 
understand it, not fully, for they have not 
fully experienced its power, its joy, its right- 
eousness, its peace, its rest; but they under- 
stand it sufficiently to value it so justly as to 
be protected from yielding to any temptation 
to sacrifice it for any possible material gain. 
They understand it as Jesus understood it, 
when he said: "What shall it profit a man, 
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
own soul?" And, as he again said: It is bet- 
ter for a man that he cut off his right hand, 
or pluck out his right eye, than that he lose 
the Kingdom of God. 

The one reason that the men represented by 
the seed which fell by the wayside, the seed 
on the stony ground, and the seed in the 
thorny soil, failed to abide in the Kingdom 
of God, was that they were ignorant of the 
Kingdom. If they had understood it they 
would have permitted nothing to prevent them 
from inheriting it. But they did not enter it 
with a proper aim or motive. They sought 
its joys, rather than its righteousness. They 
represent those who desire fellowship with 

[74] 



PERILS OF DISOBEDIENCE 

God for the joy of such fellowship, and not, 
first of all, in order that through fellowship 
they may inherit the perfect character of God. 
Such men fail to understand the experi- 
ences through which one is called to pass in 
a growing knowledge of God, all of which 
are necessary for the perfecting of life. 
One who aims, through fellowship with God, 
to inherit the righteousness of God will be 
content even with his adverse experiences in 
the Kingdom of God. For he will see that 
all such experiences are essential to the ful- 
fillment of the purpose of the relationship, 
namely, that he shall be transformed into the 
likeness of God. The persecutions that arise 
because of loyalty to the will of God will have 
a perfecting power upon him. The sacrifices 
that he has to make in order to develope 
that fellowship will serve a like purpose. 
All things that come to a man in con- 
nection with his growing experience of God 
will work together for his highest good. As 
one thus understands the Kingdom one is 
protected from all the perils of sacrificing its 
growth. In Jesus Christ we see this fact 

[75] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

supremely illustrated. As his bosom fellow- 
ship with the Father exposed him to suffering 
and death he understood that such experiences 
were to be expected as conditions of his per- 
fecting. He understood that to lose the King- 
dom of God would be to lose his own soul, 
but that to remain in it even at the expense 
of sacrificing everything which would hinder 
the development of its fellowship, would be to 
attain to the perfect righteousness of God. 
Happy is that man who enters into fellowship 
with God with a clear understanding of what 
that fellowship must mean to him, in the way 
of sacrifice of everything that would hinder its 
development, and who gladly consents to such 
sacrifice in order that he may inherit its per- 
fecting love and power. Man's relationship 
with God, consciously and increasingly experi- 
enced, with all of its growing fruit, is such 
an eternal treasure that all one needs in order 
to maintain himself in that relationship 
against all the assaults of evil, is to under- 
stand it. In his understanding of the King- 
dom of God, man finds his perfect protection 
from all its perils. 

[76] 



VI 

THE PERIL OF ONE'S PERSONAL 
ENVIRONMENT 



Another parable put he forth unto them, saving. The kingdom of heaven 
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in bis field: 

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, 
and went his way. 

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared 
the tares also. 

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not 
thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, 
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 

But he said, Xay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the 
wheat with them. 

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will 
say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles 
to burn them: but gather the wheat into my- barn. 

Matthew 13:24-30. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PERIL OF ONE'S PERSONAL 
ENVIRONMENT 

THE PARABLE OF THE TAKES 

In close connection with the Parable of the 
Sower Jesus has placed the Parable of the 
Tares. In his thought, evidently, these par- 
ables should be considered together, as their 
teaching is closely related, one supplementing 
the other. In the Parable of the Tares a 
single peril to which the Kingdom of God 
is exposed is strikingly illustrated and em- 
phasized. It is the peril of spiritual 
contamination. 

The wheat and the tares are growing to- 
gether in the same field, the tares imperilling 
the wheat. In this parable we are brought 
face to face with the question of the possibil- 
ity of living in union with God while at the 
same time maintaining close relationship with 
those who are opposed to that union. Take 
the case of a Christian woman living in grow- 

[79] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ing fellowship with a husband who is out of 
harmony with God. Can they live together 
in the intimacy of the marriage relationship, 
the wife maintaining her conscious union with 
God through obedience to His will, while the 
husband lives a life of disobedience to that 
will? Can she continue in the right while he 
does wrong? Can she fulfill the law of truth 
while he violates it? Can she increasingly 
practise the law of love which he constantly 
contradicts ? Can the two walk together when 
they are not agreed? Will not his unright- 
eous life choke her righteous life, as tares 
choke wheat? Or, consider the case of two 
men in the close and intricate relationship of 
business partnership, one a child of God, the 
other without any such relationship to God. 
Can one persist in obedience to the law of 
righteousness, the law of truth, the law of 
love, while the other is disobeying these laws? 
Or make the field broader and extend the 
application of the problem to the whole polit- 
ical and social order. Can such a union of the 
children of God and the children of the world 
long exist without the children of the world 

[80] 



i PERIL OF ENVIRONMENT 

so affecting the children of the Kingdom as 
to interrupt their fellowship with their Heav- 
enly Father? 

We have said enough to indicate the prob- 
lem and the peril pointed out by Jesus in the 
Parable of the Tares, a problem which every 
child of God has to face, a peril which every 
child of God has to meet. "Shall we gather 
up the tares in order to save the wheat?" Is 
is not necessary that the wheat be separated 
from the tares? Is not such a separation a 
condition of salvation? This question has 
been answered in the affirmative by some who 
have thought they were interpreting the teach- 
ing of Jesus Christ, and multitudes of devout 
souls have sought to escape the contaminating 
effect of the world by withdrawing themselves 
from the world. 

But Jesus did not fall into their error. 
"Let both grow together," he said, "until the 
harvest." Let no separation be effected on 
the ground that such separation is necessary 
in order to preserve and fulfill the possibilities 
of the wheat. Indeed, he went further, and 
said that such separation would prove fatal to 

[81] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the wheat: that it would result in its being 
pulled up by the roots; that the destruction 
of the tares, instead of protecting the wheat, 
would result in the destruction of the wheat, 
both wheat and tares perishing together. In 
his judgment, and his judgment was just, 
because it was the judgment of righteous love, 
it was absolutely necessary that the wheat and 
the tares should remain together until the time 
of harvest. And his judgment has been con- 
firmed in every case when men have sought to 
sanctify themselves by withdrawing from the 
world. All such withdrawal on the part of 
men seeking to perfect their own characters 
has exposed them to the deadly peril of Phar- 
isaism, a peril infinitely greater than the one 
which they have sought to escape. The wheat, 
also, has always been pulled up by the roots 
when an attempt has been made to pull up 
the tares that imperilled its growth. Not by 
separation from association with sinful men 
has God ever perfected His saints. Not by 
such separation was the Captain of our salva- 
tion made perfect. Companionship with men 
who are not in union with God need not pre- 

[82] 



PERIL OF ENVIRONMENT 

vent the Christian's union with Him. Nay 
it may strengthen it, as one feels more keenly 
his own need for such union. 

There is one condition upon which men who 
are in union with God may dwell safely with 
those who are opposed to God's righteousness 
and love. If the attitude of Christian men 
toward those who are not Christian is one of 
positive effort to win them to God, then their 
presence will serve only to strengthen the 
Christian's fellowship with God and all the 
evil results that might otherwise ensue will be 
overcome. It is never safe for a child of God 
to be closely associated with men who are liv- 
ing an unspiritual, unrighteous life, except as 
he has in his soul a permanent purpose to win 
them from their sins. 



[83] 



VII 

THE PERIL OF ARRESTED 
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD 



Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took 
their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 

But the wise took oil in their vessels -with their lamps. 

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; 
go ye out to meet him. 

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are 
gone out. 

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and 
you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were 
ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 

Afterward came also tne other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son 
of man cometh. 

Matthew 25:1-13. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PERIL OF ARRESTED 
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD 

THE PARABLE OF THE WISE AND FOOLISH 

VIRGINS 

The parable of the Wise and , the Foolish 
Virgins was given by Jesus to emphasize the 
peril of an intermittent fellowship with God. 
Union with Him, to be effective, must be 
maintained until it has accomplished its per- 
fect purpose. That man is foolish, Jesus 
declares again and again, who seeks the King- 
dom of God without counting the cost of per- 
manently remaining therein. He is like the 
man who begins to build a tower but does not 
complete the task. His work is wasted since 
it fails of completion. There are many things 
that it were better not to, begin if one is not 
to complete them, since their early and im- 
perfect state can be tolerated only because it 
is a stage toward their later perfected attain- 
ment. Fellowship with God is of infinite 

[87] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

value if it is to be maintained until it has 
accomplished its eternal purpose, but not 
otherwise. It does not pay to be a Christian 
disciple unless one is to continue to be one, 
forever. Better were it not to have known 
the way of life than having known it to turn 
away from it. 

The Foolish Virgins were foolish in this, 
that they did not prepare themselves with suf- 
ficient provision of oil to last until the Bride- 
groom came. They were foolish to suppose 
that they could please their Master with a 
half-hearted devotion to his service. Their 
scant supply of oil indicates their shallow love 
for him. They wished to gain his favor with 
as little cost to themselves as possible. They 
wanted a cheap religion and yet one that 
should give them a full reward. They were 
unwilling to put themselves to the expense of 
devoting themselves fullv to the service of 
then King; and the Bridegroom came when 
they were not readv to meet him, when their 
lights were out, because their scant supply of 
oil was exhausted. 

A man may get out of touch with God after 

[88] 



PERILOFAR RESTED FELLOWSHIP 

he has had real fellowship with Him. One 
may dwell in the darkness of the life apart 
from God after one has enjoyed the light of 
His presence. It is not true that once in grace 
means always in grace. It is not safe for the 
child of God to be out of fellowship with Him. 
One should be always ready to enter into the 
larger fellowship when it draws nigh. Very 
painful was the experience of the unwise 
Virgins when they discovered that they 
were not prepared for the fellowship with 
God which they now knew was within their 
reach. 

Such an experience, I fear, awaits multi- 
tudes who bear the name of Christ but who 
are asleep to the fact of the larger fellowship 
with him which is reserved in the future for 
those who prepare themselves for it. Men 
may get themselves into such an unspiritual 
state of soul that it will not be possible for 
them to prepare themselves quickly for com- 
munion with God. That fellowship comes 
only by growth: first the blade, then the ear, 
then the full corn in the ear. It requires the 
persistent growth in man of love for right- 

[89] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

eousness and truth, through which, only, man 
has that knowledge of God without which 
fellowship with him is impossible. 

One of the most dangerous delusions that 
the Church has fostered is that a soul may 
hereafter be instantly perfected when brought 
into a perfect world and into the presence of 
a perfect God. All that such contact would 
possibly do for an unholy soul would be to 
give him. not a feast of fellowship,, but a 
frightful vision of his corrupt condition: for 
the first vision of God does not mean fellow- 
ship, but it means painful consciousness of sin. 
After that there must follow the cleansing of 
the soul, the enha^^erLing 1 f the conscience, 
the empowering of the will, all of which re- 
quire time. The method of growth in the 
material world is the method of growth in the 
spiritual world. Xo exception has ever been 
made, or ever will be. The time element in 
growth cannot be ignored. Xo. the soul can- 
not be instantly purified of its sins and so 
prepared for the joys of the perfect life in 
the perfect world. Jesus warned men of this 
fact, lest thev find themselves at last excluded 

[90] 



PERIL OF ARRESTED FELLOWSHIP 

from the Feast for which they have failed to 
prepare themselves. 

Evidently the Foolish Virgins had counted 
upon their ability to obtain the needed prep- 
aration to meet the Bridegroom when the mo- 
ment should come to enter into his presence. 
That was their fatal mistake, the mistake 
which multitudes are making today. They 
supposed that they could then get the oil they 
needed from their wiser companions; that 
they could then borrow their way into the 
fellowship of their King; that they could 
enter into union with him on the basis of the 
goodness of others, imputed to them. Evi- 
dently they were believers in the theory of 
imputed righteousness, which has been taught 
by the Church for centuries, with its wither- 
ing power upon the lives of those who have 
most consistently believed it. "Give us of 
your oil," they said, "for our lamps are gone 
out." So these men, like the foolish virgins, 
expect that God will impute other men's vir- 
tues to them, and that thus they will be 
included in their fellowship with Him. They 
will go in on the borrowed light of another! 

[91] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

They need not pay the price of entrance that 
Christ paid; someone will give them each a 
robe for the King's feast. 

Notice that these Foolish Virgins were not 
able to obtain what they needed, in the mo- 
ment of time which they had when they 
learned that the Bridegroom was at hand. 
While they went to buy the Bridegroom came 
and the door was closed. This was the sec- 
ond disappointment of the Foolish Virgins. 
Then we notice another mistake of theirs, 
namely, they expected that somehow the 
Bridegroom could be induced to share with 
them the feast for which they were unpre- 
pared; as if God could possibly give to 
an unprepared soul the feast of fellowship 
with Him. Terrible was the experience of 
these Virgins when they found that the feast 
was, indeed, a great reality, but that they were 
excluded from it because they had failed to 
qualify themselves for its enjoyment. What 
if such experience awaits many who have lit- 
tle or no faith in the Kingdom of God! What 
if an hour should come in which they would 
know that it is a glorious reality! Like the 

[92] 



PERIL OF ARRESTED FELLOWSHIP 

Foolish Virgins, millions are asleep to the fact 
of God's existence and to the fact that fellow- 
ship with Him is possible to all men. The 
hour is coming in which all men will know 
beyond a doubt that the presence of God is 
real, and will know that they are about to 
realize what His attitude toward them is, and 
will discover whether they are prepared for 
fellowship with Him, or whether they must 
of necessity realize their exclusion from Him. 
The great majority of men are asleep to the 
fact of the spiritual life. They are not con- 
scious of the presence of God and therefore 
are without any fellowship with Him. It will 
be a frightful experience for such persons to 
awake to the reality of the spiritual life and 
find that they have wasted the time that they 
should have been employing to prepare them- 
selves for its enjoyment; for, as Jesus Christ 
so remarkably illustrates in this parable, read- 
iness for a larger fellowship can be had only 
through the preparation of a growing fellow- 
ship. One who neglects the earlier stages of 
such development will find himself of neces- 
sity excluded finally from the larger oppor- 

[93] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

tunities. If Heaven is a place of the largest 
possible fellowship with God, there is no rea- 
son to suppose that a man can enter into it 
except as he has prepared himself for it by 
gradually developing his experience of fellow- 
ship up to the place where he is qualified to 
enter into it. 

Very remarkable is the statement by the 
Bridegroom of his reason for excluding the 
Foolish Virgins; "I know you not." As if he 
had said, "Without acquaintance with me you 
seek a large fellowship with me, a perfect 
union with me; without having developed a 
fellowship with me through its earlier stages 
you seek abruptly to enter into this fullest 
experience." Such a result is absolutely im- 
possible. As well might a youth attempt to 
matriculate in a university when he had neg- 
lected all preparatory courses. As w T ell might 
one seek to enter into the highest fellowship 
of art when he had not as yet learned its first 
principles. As well might one attempt to 
acquire a language, the a-b-c of which he had 
refused to learn. And yet such men represent 
multitudes in the Church of Christ today, who 

[94] 



PERIL OF ARRESTED FELLOWSHIP 

imagine that they are to enter into the perfect 
fellowship with God at the midnight hour of 
death, when they have not made the slightest 
attempt, in this present life, to prepare them- 
selves for that fellowship. It will be a fright- 
ful experience for such men when they realize, 
too late, their unpreparedness ! It will be ter- 
rible to discover that the splendid feast of the 
perfected Kingdom of God is a reality, but 
that they are unprepared to enjoy it. I warn 
every reader of the peril of unbelief in the 
Kingdom of God, an unbelief which results in 
sleeping away the time given by God to pre- 
pare for entrance into the Kingdom. Oh, you 
sleeping Virgins, arise and seek oil for your 
lamps while it may be found! Seek acquaint- 
ance with God and maintain a growing fel- 
lowship with Him so that you may be pre- 
pared for the perfect fellowship of the future. 
Refuse to believe those who tell you that fel- 
lowship with God is not a growth; that it is 
a thing that can be received, hereafter, as a 
direct gift. Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ 
as he puts you on your guard against this 
deadly peril to the soul, lest you come at last 

[95] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

to find that the future holds a King's palace 
with a King's feast, for which you have failed 
to fit yourself, because you have not believed 
in its coming. Beware how you sleep away 
the time given you to develop a fellowship 
with God that will enable you to enjoy a per- 
fect union with Him hereafter. 



[96] 



VIII 
THE PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 



For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which 
went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them 
into his vineyard. 

And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the 
marketplace, 

And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right 
I will give you. And they went their way. 

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, 
and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, 
Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, 
Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the 
first. 

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received 
every man a penny. 

But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received 
more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 

And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the 
house, 

Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them 
equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 

But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not 
thou agree with me for a penny? 

Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto 
thee. 

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, 
because I am good? 

So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. 

Matthew 20:1-16. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD 

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vine- 
yard was related by Jesus in answer to Peter's 
question as to how much more than others the 
twelve might expect to receive in return for 
their labors for Christ. Jesus was pained by 
this question of his foremost disciple, since it 
clearly revealed the fact that his motive in 
serving him was essentially selfish. It was not 
the motive of the Kingdom of God, the motive 
that one must act upon in order to enjoy fel- 
lowship with his Heavenly Father. 

Let me make clear the solemn truth that 
with such a motive as Peter's no one can pos- 
sibly have the consciousness of the presence of 
God, except in rebuke ; for such a motive con- 
tradicts the only motive on which God acts in 
all dealings with men. To have fellowship 
with Him one must act on His motive. 
Though one give all his goods to feed the poor 

[99] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

and his body to be burned and have not love, 
it profiteth him nothing so far as the develop- 
ment of fellowship is concerned. 

Peter is like the all-day laborer of the para- 
ble, who expected to receive more than others 
from his Lord at the close of the day. He 
who desires that others receive less than him- 
self will find himself receiving less than the 
least of those who are willing to share all that 
they have with others. The least in the King- 
dom is greater than the greatest outside the 
Kingdom. The least thing done in the name 
of a disciple, in the spirit or motive of Christ, 
is greater than the greatest thing done in the 
spirit of selfishness. While the householder 
offered the same reward, a penny, to all his 
servants, the all-day laborers received nothing 
of the fellowship with him which the penny 
represented. All their labor in the heat and 
burden of the day brought them no reward, 
either while they were at work or at the close 
of the day, because theirs was not a labor of 
love, either for their master or for those whom 
they served at his command. 

This all-day laborer belongs to the same 

^ 100] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

class with the elder brother in the parable of 
the Prodigal Son, who claimed that his father 
gave him nothing, though his father said that 
all that he had had always been at his son's 
disposal. That is, his father had desired to 
give him all, and yet had not been able to give 
him anything, since he had not been able to 
enter into the least fellowship with him. 

Peter did not realize that it was his motive 
in serving his Master which would determine 
his reward in his service. He did not under- 
stand that Jesus, while desiring to share all 
with him, could not possibly share anything 
with him except as the apostle shared his Mas- 
ter's motive. "How much shall we have who 
have borne the labor and heat of the day? 
How much more may we expect than they 
who labor but an hour in the cool of the 
evening?" In answering this question Jesus 
shows how great is the contrast between the 
least service of love and the greatest possible 
service of selfishness. He purposely uses for 
example the contrast between the laborer who 
had worked all day and the man who had 
worked but an hour, rather than between the 

[101] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

all-day laborer and those who had worked 
three-quarters, or one-half or one-third of a 
day. The contrast is like to that which he 
made between those who cast large sums of 
money into the treasury and the woman who 
gave the very smallest possible gift. She, he 
said, had given more than they all, because 
she had given at the expense of a sacrifice 
which indicated a motive of love. She, there- 
fore, received a great reward of fellowship, 
while those whose gifts were wholly selfish 
were not permitted to enter into fellowship at 
all. The same contrast appears again in the 
story of Simon who entertained the Lord in 
his palace and the woman who crept in that 
she might render her Lord the humble service 
that Simon had denied him. 

Jesus knew that Peter, at that moment, was 
serving him in a spirit which precluded any 
fellowship between them; he knew that his 
foremost apostle's motive was such as to ren- 
der all of his labor valueless and that at the 
close of the day Peter would be bitterly dis- 
appointed in his failure to receive a large and 
selfish reward from his Master. Jesus fore- 

[102] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

saw that the time was approaching when 
Peter would be forced by his selfish motive 
into profane denial of his Master; — that 
Judas would be led by the same motive to 
betray him, and that all the others, even those 
who had enjoyed the longest and closest inti- 
macy with him, would be compelled by the 
same motive to forsake him utterly. He saw 
clearly that none of his disciples could possibly 
drink his cup of fellowship with the Father, 
since none of them shared with him his Fa- 
ther's Spirit. Our Lord did all in his power 
to make his disciples see the folly of seeking 
fellowship with God while they did not share 
His love for all men. 

Contrast the spirit of the all-day laborer, 
in the parable, with that of his master, and 
see how impossible it was that these two should 
have had fellowship with each other. There 
is a great gulf fixed between them. The spirit 
of the master is the opposite of the spirit of 
the servant. One takes no account of motive, 
while with the other motive is everything. 
One wishes all of his servants to have all that 
they need. The other desires for himself that 

[103] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

which others cannot have. He who has la- 
bored all the day wants all that he needs for 
himself, but is not willing that others have all 
that thev need. He desires that others, whose 
needs are as great as his own, shall have less 
than they need. 

Xotice that this parable does not deal with 
charity, but with justice. In other stories of 
the Kingdom, like the parable of the Prodigal 
Son, Jesus deals with the true nature of char- 
ity, but here the justice of love is the theme. 
There is no charity in giving all that he needs 
to a man who has done all that he can. Such 
is the demand of justice. Xo matter how lit- 
tle a man may do, even though it be no more 
than the work of a single hour, if he has done 
all that he has had opportunity or strength to 
do, he is entitled to a full reward. This is the 
justice of love, which is the justice of God, as 
revealed by Jesus C hrist. The one-hour men 
had been idle simply because no man had been 
willing to hire them. They gladly went to 
work as soon as they were offered a job. They 
were not responsible, therefore, for their loss 
of time. Their just employer paid them for 

[104] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

the time during which they were willing to 
work. They were rewarded for what they 
would have done if they had had opportunity. 
So God deals with all of His children, never 
deducting from their pay any lost time for the 
loss of which they are not responsible. He 
imputes to us all that which we would do if 
we could. He rewards us according to our 
motive and not according to our achievements. 
In His sight the man who has worked all day 
without love is worthy of no fellowship with 
Him, while the man who has worked in love 
but a single hour is entitled to full fellowship. 
Blessed Spirit of God! Glorious righteous- 
ness of love ! 

But someone will say, "Did not the all-day 
laborer receive a penny at the close of his day's 
work? How then do we say that he received 
no reward?" Our answer is at hand. So far 
as his master was concerned he was given a 
full day's pay, but so far as his receiving goes, 
he received nothing. That is to say, the penny 
meant nothing to the man who coveted it for 
himself, but not for others. Let us under- 
stand, once for all, that the man who seeks 

[105] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

more for himself than he seeks for others con- 
tradicts the very nature of God, and so makes 
fellowship with Him impossible. The man 
who is unwilling that others should share to 
the full all that he craves for himself can never 
have Christ's experience with God. 

But the all-day laborer said, "It is not fair 
that others, who have done less than we, 
should have as much. They do not deserve as 
much. It is not fair to give them so much 
since they have not earned it." How blind is 
that man to the justice of God in whose heart 
the love of God does not dwell! As a matter 
of fact, as we have seen, the single-hour la- 
borer was entitled to as much as those who had 
wrought longer, since he had been willing to 
labor as long as they if he had had their op- 
portunity. They who have the spirit of the 
all-day laborer can be conscious of the pres- 
ence of God only in rebuke. Where there is 
a selfish motive the vision of God's righteous- 
ness is impossible, and without vision of His 
righteousness fellowship with Him is impos- 
sible. This explains why we find it so diffi- 
cult to enjoy the fellowship of the Kingdom 

[106] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

of God. One who in a selfish spirit seeks that 
fellowship will find himself excluded from it. 
And how prevalent the spirit of the all-day 
laborer is, even among those who are foremost 
among the disciples of Christ! How pain- 
fully aware we are of its presence in our own 
souls! It is the veil of the temple which con- 
ceals the inner sanctuary where Jehovah 
dwells. It is the flesh that must be crucified 
before one can have Christ's vision of God. 
God is alive to those only who dwell in His love 
for all men, a love that craves the highest and 
best for all, that says to all men, "All that I 
have I desire to be thine. The penny that 
I crave for myself I crave for thee also. ... I 
crave for those who have not had my oppor- 
tunities all that I crave for myself. There is 
no good thing that I desire for myself that 
I do not desire for all other men." That is 
what love for all men must say. No man can 
possibly crave for himself anything that he 
does not crave for those whom he loves as he 
loves himself, and no man has the love of God 
in him who does not love others as he loves 
himself. The man who says he loves his 

[107] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

brother as he loves himself, and does not desire 
for his brother all that he desires for himself, 
deceives his own soul. The love of God is not 
in him. 

How much of the spirit of the all-day 
laborer there is in us all! How often does 
it reveal itself in our unjust attitude toward 
those with whom we are associated! How 
much we crave that we are not willing that 
others should have, even those who are as fully 
entitled to it as we are, to say nothing of those 
who, like the prodigal son, should be given it 
as a matter of pure charity. How much more 
of material comfort we want than we crave 
for those who share to the full our needs. 
Like the all-day laborer we feel that we have 
a right to better homes, better clothes, better 
food, because we have had larger opportuni- 
ties to secure them. "What right," we ask, 
"have the men of one talent to demand the 
rewards of the men of ten? or the man who 
labors with his hands to receive the rewards of 
the man who works with his brain? Let the 
man who has labored but an hour be content 
with an hour's pay, though that is utterly in- 

[108] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

sufficient to secure for him the needs of his 
body and his soul. Let the honest workman, 
who does what he can, be content to live in a 
crowded and unsanitary tenement, without 
the necessities of a son of God. He has no 
right to the comforts which we claim for our- 
selves. While we are apparelled in fine linen, 
and fare sumptuously every day in our palace, 
let him lie homeless, friendless at the gate, and 
be content with the crumbs that fall from our 
table. He has no right to our penny a day, 
since he has not had our opportunities or our 
strength wherewith to secure it." 

How much of this man's spirit do we have 
with reference to the higher things of life, 
even the highest! We are not willing that 
others should receive, like ourselves, their 
penny of love, that they should be loved as 
we are loved. We want our friends to love 
us more than they do others. Or, while we 
wish a full measure of the love of God for 
ourselves we do not covet the same for all men. 
We do not wish others to receive the same 
measure with ourselves of joy, not even of 
spiritual joy. We seem to feel that it will 

[109] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

decrease our joy if others experience the 
same; that our penny will mean less to us 
if others have one likewise. We are not will- 
ing that others receive, like ourselves, their 
penny of praise, even though they be quite as 
fully entitled to it as we are. We cannot bear 
that they be as highly esteemed as we are. We 
wish to receive more than we deserve, even 
though we risk robbing others of their due. 
We cannot bear to give a full share of credit 
to others with whom we are laboring in the 
vineyard of our Lord. In a word, we do not 
share with Jesus the unselfish love of God, and 
therefore we do not share with him his fellow- 
ship with God. While we have Peter's uncon- 
verted spirit, which led him to ask, "What 
more than others shall we have?" we cannot 
share our blessed Redeemer's experience of 
God. 

Jesus is the householder of this parable. 
He craved for every man all that he craved 
for himself. He desired that God give Him- 
self to all as freely as He had given Himself 
to him. He prayed that all men might enjoy 
all that he enjoyed. He craved for every one 

[110] 



PERIL OF A WRONG MOTIVE 

the peace that filled his own soul. He sought 
to share his righteousness to the full with the 
most impure souls with whom he came in con- 
tact. He tasted death for every man. He 
offered his flesh and blood to the whole world. 
There was not a selfish desire in his heart, 
because his soul was filled with the love of 
God for all men. 

Again, I say, we must have his motive if 
we are to have his experience of God. Every- 
thing in us that is not of love is a contradic- 
tion of the very nature of God, and must 
therefore hinder our fellowship with Him. 

"Blesed are the pure in heart" (they whose 
motive is love), "for they shall see God." But 
what is it to be pure in heart? It is to have 
nothing in one's heart that contradicts love. 
That man is not pure in heart who cherishes 
ill will toward anyone, even toward those who 
bear ill will toward him. If we would have 
Christ's fellowship with God our love, like 
Christ's, must go forth toward those who do 
not love us. 



[in] 



IX 

THE PERIL OF AN UNFORGIVING 

SPIRIT 



Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against 
me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until 
seventy times seven. 

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would 
take account of his servants. 

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed 
him ten thousand talents. 

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, 
and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have 
patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, 
and forgave him the debt. 

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which 
owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the 
throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 

And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have 
patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 

And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the 
debt. 

So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and 
came and told unto their lord all that was done. 

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked 
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 

Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as 
I had pity on thee? 

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should 
pay all that was due unto him. 

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts 
forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. 

Matthew 18:21-35. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PERIL OF AN UNFORGIVING 

SPIRIT 

THE PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT 

In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 
Jesus illustrates the fact that without the for- 
giving spirit man cannot possibly long main- 
tain fellowship with God. We have here, 
again, to be reminded that God's attitude 
toward us must, also, be our attitude toward 
each other. Oh, that we might understand 
this! Would that we might experience this 
truth which Jesus so wonderfully illustrates 
in the parable which we are considering, a 
truth which he enjoins upon every one of his 
followers, that our fellowship with a perfect 
God can only be maintained when we forgive 
one another as He forgives us our debts and 
trespasses against Him, — the things in us that 
contradict His perfect nature, and that would 
estrange us from Him if He did not pardon 
them. How much there is in us of unright- 

[115] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

eousness, that contradicts His righteousness; 
of falsehood, that contradicts His truth; of 
hate, that contradicts His love. How God 
suffers in His relation of close union with sin- 
ful man! 

"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against 
me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" 
Peter asked. Peter was always asking such 
questions of Jesus. He it was who asked how 
much more than other men he might expect 
to receive for his service in the Kingdom of 
his Master. In his answers to both of these 
questions Jesus reminds Peter of the example 
of God in His dealings with men, and bids 
him follow that. With regard to the forgiv- 
ing spirit, Jesus told Peter that he must for- 
give as God forgives, that is, as often as any- 
one might sin against him and repent. It is 
only as we thus forgive men their trespasses 
against us, that we are able to keep in fellow- 
ship with them. Without the forgiving spirit, 
husband and wife, parent and child, friend 
and friend would soon be permanently sepa- 
rated, with no possibility of reconciliation. It 
is clear enough that the only possibility of 

[116] 



AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT 

maintaining any personal friendship is by the 
exercise of the forgiving spirit. And such 
forgiveness must be from the heart, removing 
all estrangement. So God pardons us, and so 
He requires us to pardon others ; for if we do 
not thus forgive men, God, also, will not for- 
give us. 

But if God does not forgive us we shall not 
be able to keep in union with Him for a day, 
nay, not for a single hour. Our only hope of 
abiding in union with God is in His readiness 
to pardon all of our offenses, no matter how 
often committed, so long as we repent of 
them. And He is as quick with His pardon as 
we are with our penitence. He always runs to 
meet the sincerely repentant soul, for He suf- 
fers more than we do when His fellowship 
with us is interrupted. 

Peter had never considered how much there 
was in him that contradicted the nature of his 
Heavenly Father. The figure, "ten thousand 
talents," that represents what God has to for- 
give in man, is set over against the insignifi- 
cant figure of "fifty pence," representing what 
man has to forgive in his brothers. This tre- 

[117] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

mendous difference strikingly illustrates the 
fact that there is infinitely more in us that 
contradicts the righteousness of God, than 
there is in men that contradicts our righteous- 
ness. If, therefore, God can love us, it is 
possible for us to love one another. If He can 
forgive all our sins, we can forgive men all 
of their sins. For God has to forgive a thou- 
sand times more in us than we have to forgive 
in those with whom we are associated. When, 
therefore, we withhold our fellowship from 
men, because of their offences against us, of 
which they are repentant, God withholds His 
fellowship from us, because of our sins against 
Him, of which we are repentant. 

Further than this, we are not to refuse to 
fellowship with any man without letting him 
know the reason. This is the teaching of 
Jesus, "If thy brother shall trespass against 
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee 
and him alone:" then if he repents, we are 
to forgive him. Or, if we realize that any man 
has something against us, we must try to dis- 
cover what it is, in order that our offence or 
misunderstanding may be removed, and so our 

[118] 



AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT 

fellowship with him be maintained. That is, 
we are to make every possible effort to enter 
into fellowship with all men, and to protect 
that fellowship from everything that would 
mar it. This is precisely what God does as 
He seeks to reveal that in us which prevents 
us from entering into fellowship with Him, 
and from remaining therein. He does not 
leave us in ignorance of the causes of our 
estrangement from Him, but puts Himself to 
infinite expense to reveal our faults that they 
may be removed. By so doing He proves 
the genuineness of His desire for fellowship 
with us. He prizes the union so highly as to 
seek, by all means, to protect and promote it, 
through the removal of all that would prevent 
or mar it. 

And we must imitate Him in this respect 
in all our dealings with those with whom we 
are associated. So far as lies in our power 
we must live in the harmonious relations of 
love with all men. At the door of every heart 
we must knock, seeking such union with man 
as God seeks with us. There must be no bar- 
rier in us to fellowship with any man, if there 

[119] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

is to be in us no barrier to fellowship with 
God. Oh, there are so many who do not see 
that their failure to practise the forgiving love 
of God in all their life relationships with men 
is the reason why all their efforts to realize the 
presence of God in fellowship utterly fail! 
If, after having been forgiven by God for all 
those offences that prevent our fellowship with 
Him, we refuse to forgive men all that hinders 
our fellowship with them, we shall find our- 
selves experiencing such an estrangement from 
God and such condemnation by Him as the 
wicked servant of the parable experienced. 



[120] 



X 

THE PERIL OF THE USELESS 
AND SELFISH LIFE 



And he said, A certain man had two sons: 

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of 
goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took 
his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous 
living. 

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and 
he began to be in want. 

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent 
him into his fields to feed swine. 

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did 
eat; and no man gave unto him. 

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my 
father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and before thee, 

And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired 
servants. 

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, 
his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him. 

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in 
thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it 
on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 
And they began to be merry. 

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the 
house, he heard musick and dancing. 

And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 

And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the 
fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and 
intreated him. 

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, 
neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never 
gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with 
harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is 
thine. 

It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother 
was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. 

Luke 15: 11-32. 



CHAPTER X 

THE PERIL OF THE USELESS 
AND SELFISH LIFE 

PARABLES OF THE LOST SHEEP, THE LOST COIN 
AND THE LOST SON 

The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the 
Prodigal Son are parables that should be con- 
sidered in close connection, since they repre- 
sent different phases of the same subject. He 
who is outside of the Kingdom of God is like 
a sheep without a shepherd. Such a sheep is 
exposed to perils to which it is blind and is 
therefore in danger of being destroyed. No 
man's conscience can give him guidance except 
as it is enlightened by the spirit of God. 
Wolves prey upon the sheep that are not 
cared for by the Good Shepherd. Men are 
overcome and destroyed by perils to which 
they are blind unless they are enlightened 
through their spiritual fellowship with the 
All-seeing God. Jesus, realizing this, sought 
in all his ministry on earth to share with men 

[123] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

his spiritual fellowship with the Heavenly- 
Father. It was his greatest joy to do this, 
knowing that through such fellowship only 
could men be protected from their perils and 
developed in their virtues. Jesus has no other 
way of salvation for any man. 

The parable of the lost coin represents in 
a very striking way a man who has lost his 
value because he is of no service to his broth- 
ers. The coin in its "down and out" condition 
is valueless since it is rendering no service. 
The value of a man is wholly in the service 
he renders to the world. If the salt have lost 
its savour it is henceforth good for nothing 
but to be trodden under foot of men, i. e., 
that which is not fit for service is, so long as 
it remains in that state, valueless. Intrinsi- 
cally valuable as the material of the silver piece 
was, it was practically valueless so long as it 
remained out of circulation, hidden in the 
dust. Jesus illustrates the same truth in the 
parable of the fruitless tree, concerning which 
he says : "Enrich the ground and dig about it, 
and if possible make it fruitful, but in case 
such efforts fail, cut it down and give it to the 

[124] 



USELESS AND SELFISH LIFE 

fire: why should it encumber the ground?" 
That is to say, make it serviceable in the high- 
est degree possible. If it cannot be serviceable 
in fruit bearing, then let it be serviceable as 
a heat producer ; for its only value is the value 
of the service it renders, and its worth must be 
estimated solely by that standard. 

After he had fed the thousands, we are told 
in the miracle story, Jesus commanded that 
the fragments be gathered up, that nothing 
be lost. To be lost, as Jesus uses the term, 
is to be rendering no valuable service to the 
world. One who is in that condition is dead 
to God, or, if you please, God is dead to him, 
so long as he is dead to his opportunities for 
service. That man who is dead to his brother 
is also dead to God, "dead in trespasses and 
sin," the Scripture says. They that live in 
selfishness are dead all their lives. God is not 
a reality to a man who is not fulfilling the law 
of service. The woman sought her lost coin. 
So God is always seeking men who have lost 
their value to those with whom they are re- 
lated. Out of fellowship with these they are 
out of fellowship with God; separated from 

[125] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

them they are separated from him. The 
woman seeking the piece of silver represents 
the eternal attitude of God, who is continually 
seeking to restore men to a life of service. 

The parable of the Prodigal Son, which 
closely follows the parable of the lost coin, 
illustrates the difficulty that God experiences 
in entering into fellowship with all of his chil- 
dren. What draws one class of men to Him 
is the very tiling that repels another class from 
Him. The father's treatment of the prodigal, 
which drew him away from a life of sin into 
filial fellowship, embittered the elder son's 
heart against both his father and his brother, 
so that when one son came to the feast of fel- 
lowship which the father had prepared for 
both of his sons, the other withdrew from it. 
The elder brother wanted fellowship with his 
father but not with his brother. He was 
angry when told that he could not feast with 
his father except in company with his brother. 
He was deaf to the entreaties of his father to 
unite in fellowship with him, because of the 
presence of the brother. The father craved a 
fellowship which should unite him with both 

[126] 



USELESS AND SELFISH LIFE 

of his sons, but, alas, the one son did not desire 
fellowship with the other, though each wished 
union with the father. How sad this experi- 
ence of the father who could not enjoy fellow- 
ship with his sons because of their refusal to 
fellowship each other! That is the experience 
that God has today, as he seeks union with 
all classes of men, while they hold themselves 
apart from each other. The rich man would 
enjoy his fellowship with God while his heart 
is dead to fellowship with his poor brother. 
The Pharisee seeks to commune with God 
while he refuses to speak to a brother who is 
also a son of God. 

"Thou never gavest me a kid," the elder 
brother said, "with which to be merry, but 
thou hast given him the fatted calf." The 
contrast is between the richest possible fellow- 
ship and no fellowship at all. The least is 
here placed over against the greatest. We see 
the same contrast in the parable of Dives and 
Lazarus, in which God gives the fellowship 
of Abraham's bosom to Lazarus but denies as 
much fellowship to the rich man as is repre- 
sented by a drop of water. And in both cases 

[127] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the lesson is the same, namely, that one who 
will not enter into fellowship with God in 
company with others who enjoy that fellow- 
ship will find himself wholly excluded. He 
who seeks fellowship with God but does not 
seek it with men will seek in vain. He who 
knocks at the door of the Kingdom of God 
with a selfish spirit will find himself knocking 
at a closed door. Any man who seeks fellow- 
ship with God solely on his own behalf, with- 
out any disposition to crave it for others, will 
crave in vain. God will not give even a kid 
for the feast of fellowship with a man who is 
unwilling to share that fellowship with his 
brother; God will not give a drop of fellow- 
ship to a man dying of thirst so long as that 
man wishes it for himself only. So when the 
father said to the son, with whom he was out 
of fellowship: "All that I have is thine," he 
meant to imply, "if thou art willing to share 
it with thy brother. I offer you all that I have 
prepared for him, the fatted calf, the music, 
the dancing, upon the condition that you share 
it with him, but I cannot give you anything 
from which he is excluded." 

[128] 



USELESS AND SELFISH LIFE 

God help us to see the great truth here set 
forth ; a truth that seems never to have dawned 
upon the Christian world, in which great 
bodies of Christians seek for themselves an 
exclusive communion with God. They have 
never communed with God. Many would 
rather have a kid apart from others than the 
fatted calf shared with others. The father 
had freely offered the elder brother all that 
he had prepared for his younger son, and yet 
the elder brother declared that his father had 
not given him as much as a kid with which to 
make merry. The simple truth is that what 
this elder brother wanted was something from 
which his younger brother should be excluded. 
Rather than share the best that his father had 
with his younger brother he would be content 
to have the very meanest that his father could 
give, so long as he could have it with his father 
apart from his brother. 

So, God offers all that he has to all of his 
children, upon the condition that they share it 
with one another, as he is willing to share it 
with them all. All that he has he freely offers 
to all of his children. He will not give to one 

[ 129 ] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

that which he withholds from others. His 
spirit of love makes it impossible that he 
should have fellowship with anyone who 
wishes for himself that which he does not 
desire for others. The very nature of God 
is evermore in contradiction with the spirit of 
selfishness, wherever it is found. Not a kid 
for the man who seeks fellowship with him 
which he is not willing to share with his 
brother, but a calf for him who seeks fellow- 
ship with him which he is willing to share with 
all others. We shall never have Christ's fel- 
lowship with God until we seek Christ's fel- 
lowship with men, with all men. 



[130] 



XI 

THE PERIL OF THE LACK OF 
HUMAN FELLOWSHIP 



And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which 
had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his 
goods. 

And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? 
give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 

Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh 
away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 

I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they 
may receive me into their houses. 

So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, 
How much owest thou unto my lord? 

And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy 
bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 

Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hun- 
dred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write 
fourscore. 

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: 
for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of 
light. 

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of un- 
righteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting 
habitations. 

Luke 16:1-9. 

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, 
and fared sumptuously every day: 

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, 
full of sores, 

And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: 
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels 
into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar 
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, 
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am 
tormented in this flame. 

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy 
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and 
thou art tormented. 

And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that 
they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, 
that would come from thence. 

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to 
my father's house: 

For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also 
come into this place of torment. 

Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them 
hear them. 

And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the 
dead, they will repent. 

And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. 

Luke 16:19-31. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PERIL OF THE LACK OF 
HUMAN FELLOWSHIP 

THE PARABLES OF THE UNJUST STEWARD, AND 
DIVES AND LAZARUS 

The parable of the Unjust Steward is 
closely related to the parable of Dives and 
Lazarus. Both are parables of the Kingdom 
of God, although they are not so called by our 
Lord. The parable of the Unjust Steward 
illustrates the fact that men who are to enter 
into fellowship with God after death must 
begin that fellowship in this life. The steward 
had received notice that his stewardship was 
soon to terminate. Like him, we all under- 
stand that the life we are now living is soon to 
end. He was wise in preparing himself for the 
life that he desired to enter into after his stew- 
ardship was over. "What shall I do," he asked, 
"when I am no longer steward?" "Thou 
fool," is the word of Christ for the man who 
does not consider that there is a life beyond 

[133] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the grave, the nature of which he is to deter- 
mine by the life he lives here. "If," the stew- 
ard says, "I am to escape a friendless life after 
my stewardship ends, I must make friends 
now, who shall receive me then. If I am to 
enter into friendships there, they must begin 
here." 

Death is a harvest when we shall reap what 
we have sown and nothing more. I do not 
say that we shall have no opportunity for sow- 
ing after this life is over that shall bring a 
harvest later, but we shall not find prepared 
for us after death what we have not developed 
in this life. Jesus is always illustrating and 
emphasizing this fact, which none of his dis- 
ciples, in the days of his flesh, seemed to under- 
stand and to which most of his disciples now 
are utterly blind. At another time he tells 
the story of the foolish rich man who laid up 
much goods for his pleasure in this life, while 
he laid up nothing for his pleasure after death ; 
who was wise for a moment, but foolish for 
eternity. He represents men who toil thirty, 
forty, fifty years to accumulate the means to 
enjoy the things of this world for a brief sea- 

[134] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

son, but make no preparation for the eternal 
fellowship of the everlasting ages. In this 
respect the children of this world are wiser 
than the children of light. 

But the steward, in this parable, was wiser 
in sowing what he wanted to reap. He had 
no idea that he could expect to enter into a 
life for which he had not prepared himself. 
So Jesus wishes us to understand that if 
heaven is to be a place of friendship it can 
only be because we create such friendship in 
this life and, so to speak, lay it up in heaven 
before we go there. The steward was wise in 
the method he used to secure the future he 
desired. He understood that only in one way 
could he possibly secure that future. "I can- 
not dig," he said, by which he meant, "I can- 
not possibly work my way into what I desire." 
"And to beg I am ashamed," that is to say, 
"I do not desire, after my life of stewardship 
is over, to be dependent upon charity, to have 
a future in which I shall be a pauper, a recip- 
ient and not a giver, in which I shall reap what 
I have not sown, in which I shall have what- 
ever pleasure there may be in a selfish life. 

[135] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

Even if, in that life beyond, I should be able 
to beg what I desire, my life would be one of 
shame. If I should be permitted to receive 
after having failed to give, whatever I might 
receive would bring no joy, no glory, but 
shame." 

These words of Christ have a deeper mean- 
ing than we have ever imagined. They should 
be very earnestly considered by all who are 
expecting to borrow their way into heaven, 
or to find there a life in which they will be 
ministered to, notwithstanding the fact that 
they have developed no spirit of ministering. 
Such a life could never prove a joy. It could 
no more prove a joy there than it can prove 
a joy here. The man who begged in heaven, 
even though he should be successful in beg- 
ging all that it is and has, would find that he 
had received nothing but shame after all. 
What shall I do to secure a future that shall 
be full of joy and peace? Since I cannot hope 
to beg it I must do something to earn it. The 
writer is of opinion that a great majority of 
those who are anticipating a satisfactory life 
in heaven are expecting to get it for nothing, 

[136] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

are expecting to reap it without sowing it, are 
hoping to receive it as a friendly gift, inde- 
pendent of anything they may have done to 
merit it. They are to be eternal paupers, 
spiritual parasites, always being ministered to, 
notwithstanding their failure to minister. The 
steward of this parable was infinitely wise in 
realizing that even if he could beg what he 
needed, his life as a pauper would be one of 
shame and pain instead of honor and joy. 
He was wiser than the foolish virgins who 
thought they could beg their way into the 
feast of fellowship, for which they had re- 
fused to put themselves to the cost of prepar- 
ing. He understood that a life in which he 
was served without serving could never be a 
life of fellowship. 

"I am resolved what to do to secure the 
future I crave," he said, "the friendships upon 
which I shall be dependent for escape from a 
life of loneliness and pain, I must make now. 
I know exactly what I must do in order to 
secure the desired result." What did he do? 
He called one of his lord's debtors who owed 
a hundred measures of oil and commanded 

[187] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

him to sit down quickly and write fifty. He 
reduced this man's burden one half. Then he 
called another who owed one hundred meas- 
ures of wheat and told him to write it four 
score, reducing his burden twenty per cent. 
In other words, he endeared himself to men 
by sharing their burdens. He entered into 
friendships with them by the service he ren- 
dered them, and when his stewardship was 
over these men, whom he had served while it 
lasted, gladly welcomed him and so made for 
him a desirable life. We must do precisely 
what he did if we would secure the future we 
desire after this life is over. "Go thou and do 
likewise," is the word of Christ to every man 
who would enter into eternal life. 

Make friends on earth, whose friendship 
you shall enjoy increasingly here, and finally, 
perfectly, in heaven. While you have the 
opportunities of this world, through minister- 
ing to men's necessities enter into a fellowship 
which beginning here shall be perfected here- 
after. As the wise steward lightened the bur- 
dens of those with whom he was associated, 
so we are to lighten the burdens of those with 

[ 138 ] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

whom we are associated. Christ said, "Give 
and it shall be given unto you, good measure 
heaped up and running over." 

Moreover, if there are friendships made 
with men, they will include fellowship with 
God, for where there are two united on earth 
He is also included. Fellowship with men, 
on the basis of a true service to them, inevi- 
tably involves fellowship with God. We must 
begin such fellowship with both God and men 
here, if we are to find it in a larger degree in 
the life beyond the grave. 

Very strikingly Jesus follows this parable 
with the parable of Dives and Lazarus. The 
rich man, in this parable, dies without having 
laid up any fellowship in heaven. He goes 
to the life beyond the grave not having done 
what the wise steward did. He asks to reap 
there what he has refused to sow here. He 
begs there from another to whom he had 
denied service here. Dives sees Lazarus in 
Abraham's bosom. He beholds the wretched 
beggar, whom he had refused to fellowship, 
even with a look, or a crumb of bread, enjoy- 
ing the most intimate fellowship with Abra- 

[139] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

ham, from which he, the rich man, is wholly 
excluded. What Jesus wished to show by the 
parable of this rich man was that Dives was 
not associated with Abraham in his experience 
with God. Dives did not know that his selfish 
attitude of separation from Lazarus fixed a 
gulf between him and God j , that the gulf 
between him and Lazarus, his suffering 
brother, was exactly the gulf that separated 
him from God, that he was as far from God 
as he was from Lazarus. Dives had no idea 
that the measure of distance between him and 
Lazarus exactly measured the distance be- 
tween him and God. 

No doubt Dives attended church and made 
long prayers in public places, as a sign of his 
profession of close union with God, while he 
passed by the poor, friendless man, lying at 
his gate, without the slightest recognition of 
him or purpose to minister to his needs. There 
was a great gulf fixed between Dives and 
Lazarus and that gulf was exactly the same 
as the gulf between Dives and God. One can 
hardly imagine a greater gulf between two 
persons than that gulf which existed between 

[140] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

Dives, "who was clothed in purple and fine 
linen and fared sumptuously every day," and 
that beggar who lay at his gate asking a crumb 
of bread. The striking fact, that seems to 
have been overlooked by all interpreters of 
this parable, is that this social gulf between 
these two men exactly indicated the separation 
between the rich man and God. 

Oh, if someone had only told Dives this in 
the days when he was blindly going on his 
way to hell, — to the hell that must at last be 
the experience of every man who lives increas- 
ingly the selfish life! Oh, that all men now 
could be made to see that their lack of love 
for men measures their lack of love for God, 
that they are as far from God as they are from 
their brothers, that they can draw near to Him 
only as they draw near to men, and that if 
there is a gulf fixed between them and the 
poorest and meanest man for whom they are 
responsible, that gulf is also between them and 
God! ° 

There came a time when the rich man saw 
Lazarus in the place that he had supposed 
belonged entirely to him. He saw Lazarus 

[141] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

enjoying a fellowship from which he was him- 
self excluded, but which he had anticipated for 
himself. Then he said, "Father Abraham, 
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he 
may minister unto me, that he may dip his 
finger into water and cool my parched 
tongue." His words indicate the unchanged 
character of his selfish spirit. Death has made 
no difference in him. He asks now to be min- 
istered to, as he had been ministered to before 
he died. He offers no service, but asks to be 
served. Dives says, "Send Lazarus to serve 
me!" and Abraham replies, "Son, the thing 
that you ask is impossible: the gulf between 
you and Lazarus renders it so. You cannot 
reap from him what you did not sow in him 
when you had the greatest possible oppor- 
tunity to do so. You ask me to command 
him to serve you, notwithstanding the fact of 
your absolute refusal to serve him while you 
had opportunity. Son, remember some things 
that you seem to have forgotten, some things 
that prevent the granting of your request, 
things that you evidently do not see as a bar- 
rier to fellowship. Remember that in your 

[142] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

lifetime you were in a position and condition 
to relieve distress that was such as to excite 
the pity of the dumb dogs. Now, with that 
same selfish spirit unchanged, you ask to reap 
the joys of the unselfish life. With the same 
gulf which you have created still existing 
between you and your brother, you ask that 
you may have the intimate fellowship he en- 
joys with me. The thing is impossible. I 
cannot send Lazarus to ease your pain. It 
is not in his power to give you the joys of the 
unselfish spirit while you are still the embodi- 
ment of the selfish spirit. He cannot go to 
you with even so much of fellowship as is rep- 
resented by a drop of water, for that fellow- 
ship is inseparably connected with a spirit of 
service which you do not possess. The joys 
of the unselfish life, can they in any degree 
be ministered to a man who has the selfish 
spirit? Can one who will not minister be min- 
istered to, in the things of the spirit of God? 
Can a man have the fellowship of joy with a 
man from whom he is separated by a gulf of 
selfish spirit? Can heaven be given to a man 
who has not the unselfish spirit? Can a man 

[143] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

enjoy that for which he is not fitted, for which 
he has no capacity, for which he has developed 
no fellowship? Can a man who craves only 
to be ministered unto know anything of the 
joys of one whose greatest delight is in im- 
parting joy to others?" 

Jesus has given us in this parable the most 
striking illustration of the impossibility of an 
unselfish man's sharing hereafter the fellow- 
ship of God, when he has not shared with men 
here the joys of an unselfish life. Here is one 
of the eternal "cannots" of Jesus Christ, which 
all men should understand, but of which most 
men are unconscious. It is a question now 
whether my readers will see it, even while it 
is before their eyes, and understand it, even 
though it is illustrated, again and again, in 
this book. Let me repeat it. The gulf for 
which Dives was responsible, that separated 
Dives and Lazarus, exactly measured the dis- 
tance between Dives and God. All the at- 
tempts that this rich man made to enter into 
fellowship with his heavenly Father, while he 
was neglecting to minister to the needs of his 
brother, were absolutely fruitless. No one can 

[144] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

possibly have fellowship with God except as 
he enters into it by sharing the spirit of God, 
which is supremely unselfish. Selfishness in 
man contradicts the very nature of God and 
makes fellowship with Him impossible. All of 
a man's belief in religious dogma and practice 
of religious forms will not give him the least 
crumb of fellowship with God, so long as he 
remains in bondage to the selfish spirit. A 
man who would permit a brother to lie in his 
friendlessness and sickness and poverty un- 
ministered to, at his gate, could not possibly 
have any fellowship with God by means of 
anything he might do in the mere observance 
of forms or rites of religion. 

It is very striking that the gulf between 
Dives and Lazarus before death was exactly 
the same after death. Death did not fill it 
up, or bridge it over. Death did not close 
that social chasm. These men were as far 
apart in the life beyond the grave as they were 
in the life this side the vale, and the gulf that 
separated them there was the same as that 
which divided them here. 

The rich man made the same mistake that 

[145] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

the foolish virgins made who thought that they 
could steal, or beg their way, into a fellowship 
after death for which they were unprepared 
before death. Dives represents all those who 
expect a life after death in which they shall 
be ministered to without ministering, a life of 
freedom from toil, a life in which they shall 
be served without serving, a life whose joy 
shall be the joy of selfishness. That seems to 
be the conception of heaven that is held by 
many who name the name of Christ and who 
are familiar with his continual rebuke of such 
a conception. 

"Heaven! Why, that is where we shall be 
ministered to; where we shall be served with- 
out serving." It seems to me that such is 
the conception which most Christians have of 
heaven. They think they will find there the 
joy of idleness, they will have everything done 
for them; heaven will be a place where there 
will be no toil, no more need to earn anything, 
where everything will be done for them, where 
every Lazarus will be commanded to serve 
them. The whole world seems to be filled with 
Dives' conception of heaven, notwithstanding 

[146] 



PERIL OF LACK OF FELLOWSHIP 

the fact that it is the very contradiction of the 
conception held before us by the Son of God. 
A frightful awakening is in store for all who 
hold Dives' idea of the life beyond the grave. 
Their conception of heaven is Christ's concep- 
tion of hell. What the rich man expected 
would be an experience of joy proved to be 
an experience of pain. I repeat that this 
man's conception of heaven was after all noth- 
ing but a true conception of hell ; that, instead 
of proving a place of pleasure, it proved a 
place of torment, for one cannot possibly im- 
agine a darker and deeper hell than a world 
in which one should desire to be served by 
everybody without desiring to serve anybody. 
The only joy there is in this life is the joy 
of being of service through love. To be served, 
even by those whom we love most, without 
serving, is not pleasure, but pain. To be with- 
out the consciousness that we are needed by 
others is misery. To have Lazarus serve us 
while we withhold service from him — that can 
never be heaven. Abraham is righteously rep- 
resented in this parable as refusing to encour- 
age by so much as a drop of water, the selfish 

[147] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

spirit of Dives, which had already so fully 
developed as to create for him a hell of 
torment. 

The parable closes without giving us any 
light as to the eternal future of Dives. It 
leaves him unchanged in his selfish spirit. 
Even his prayer that his brothers be warned 
lest they come, also, to this place of torture 
indicates a love for them which is largely self- 
ishness. Jesus solemnly warns us that the love 
that prepares a soul for fellowship with God 
is a love that goes far beyond one's near rela- 
tives: that it is a love that includes the least 
of God's children, that does not pass by the 
man "down and out," at the gate. No man 
can have Christ's fellowship with God except 
as he has Christ's love for men. That man 
who shuts the meanest man out of his heart 
in that measure closes the door of the King- 
dom of God. 



[148] 



XII 

CONCLUSION 



CHAPTER XII 
CONCLUSION 

These are the perils of the Kingdom of God 
— perils involving interruption of fellowship 
with Him, with loss of all that His Kingdom 
means of righteousness, love, peace and joy, 
here and hereafter. 

Jesus Christ escaped all these perils of the 
Kingdom through his supreme consecration 
of himself to obedience to God. He watched 
for their approach, and prayed for grace and 
strength with which to overcome them. He 
was never deceived by them, but always rec- 
ognized and escaped them, even when they 
came from his favorite apostle, Peter, and 
from his beloved mother. These, not know- 
ing the will of God concerning him, would 
have unwittingly misled him, if he had not 
been on his guard, when they tempted him. 
Only as we watch and pray, as he watched and 
prayed, shall we maintain our fellowship with 
God, through seeing and overcoming the 

[151] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

temptations which will pursue us in many 
forms, so long as life lasts. 

Such is a very imperfect presentation of the 
Kingdom of God. It is a very simple Gos- 
pel, and may be understood by the wayfaring 
man. Jesus did not suppose that his Gospel 
required a trained mind to apprehend or teach 
it. Rather it was good tidings which could be 
told to fishermen, and to others in the common 
walks of life, and which thev. understanding 1 
it, could easilv tell again to others. But ex- 
perience proved that natural and simple and 
clear as it is, and as he, himself, told it, those 
who heard him strangely misunderstood its 
meaning. To many it simply meant a new 
social order, hi which material things would 
be possessed more easily and abundantly. As 
they interpreted it, it was meat and drink, and 
not spiritual riches. So numerous were the 
misconceptions that immediately sprang up 
whenever Christ told the story of the King- 
dom, that it was almost impossible for him to 
induce anyone even to gam a glimpse of its 
spiritual significance. 

The Christian world is still full of miscon- 

[ L32 ] 



CONCLUSION 

ceptions of the nature of the Kingdom of God. 
The Kingdom has come to be represented as 
a social democracy, or something very differ- 
ent from the personal relationship with God 
which Jesus taught. His religion has become 
so theological and ecclesiastical and philosoph- 
ical as to require a trained mind to understand 
it. It has been so perverted that it no longer 
bears its legitimate fruit in men's lives. 
Therefore it comes as a surprise, even to the 
Church for the most part, when the Kingdom 
of Christ is declared to be a relationship of 
two, God and man. The very existence of 
such a relationship is questioned by many 
members of the Church of Christ. Some 
imagine that the Kingdom is the Church, and 
one church holds that it is that Church, and no 
other. The simple truth is, that wherever two 
are met together — God and man — whether in 
a hovel or in a palace, whether in a church 
or in the market-place, wherever these two 
are in personal union, there the Kingdom of 
God is, and there its fruit will appear. A 
glance at the state of the world and of the 
Church indicates the crying necessity for the 

[153] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

recovery of this largely lost Gospel. Multi- 
tudes are in weakness, darkness, sorrow, sin, 
simply because they are not in the Kingdom 
of God. They are sheep without a shepherd 
to lead them into the pastures where their 
needs may be supplied. One's heart aches for 
them as one considers how near to them help 
is, if they could but be enabled to see it. 
Drunkenness, and crime of every type is in- 
creasing on every hand, because the Kingdom 
of God is not clearly preached. The one hope 
for the world is in its coming; the coming of 
the Kingdom for which Jesus Christ taught 
his disciples to pray, in that one prayer which 
he gave for universal use. 

The writer has experienced in a measure in 
the religion of Jesus Christ all that he teaches 
in this book. He has seen it deliver men from 
the power of drink and every other bondage, 
after everything else had failed. He is in 
daily contact with Protestants, Catholics and 
Jews, many of whom marvel at the good news 
of their sonship to God, qualifying them for 
fellowship with Him. Recently a man who 
had spent years behind prison bars said, "I 

[154] 



CONCLUSION 

might have escaped that painful experience if 
I had known of this kind of religion when I 
was tempted to enter upon a life of crime." 

At this point, as we pause to consider what 
we have written, we are tempted to re-write 
the entire book; for there is much of it which 
we now see even more clearly, and there is 
much in the Bible concerning Christ's experi- 
ence of God that we have omitted; but our 
life is so taken up with pressing opportunities 
for reducing the religion of Christ to practice 
on behalf of suffering and perishing humanity 
that we have little more time to write about 
it. Under the circumstances we must be con- 
tent with a brief recapitulation of the subject 
as it now lies in our mind. After all it will 
not be difficult to put the whole in a nut-shell, 
to give the gist of all that can be told of 
Christ's experience of God. 

We are confirmed in our faith that such an 
experience of God as Jesus claimed for him- 
self is a reality. It, alone, explains the char- 
acter of Jesus. Union with a perfect God 
perfected him. Jesus did indeed inherit from 
his people much of his righteousness, but he 

[155] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OE GOD 

also inherited from them all their prejudices 
and sinful tendencies, Heredity made no ex- 
ception in his case. It did not hand down to 
him the srood onlv. He was made in all re- 
spec:- like unto other men. His appetites and 
passions were as real and as tense as on 
They imperilled him as they imperil us. He 
was encompassed with all of our infirmities of 
thought, speech and conduct. In the face of 
the evil tendencies :: his nature and environ- 
ment he felt powerless in iiniself to achieve 
a righteous character. "Of mvself I can do 
nothing." he 

He declared his dependence upon God in 
his ST-v.i'i'les ::r perfection. He confessed 
that he had put all of himself into the effort 
to overcome sin, and he would have been de- 
feated but for the help which came to him 
from his daily experience of God. In the 
wilderness of his temptation and in the gar- 
den is great trial he had to be strengthei 
from without. 

Jesus aimed at perfection with a perfect 
motive and through felhw with a pen 

God. He knew that only through a growing 

[156] 



CONCLUSION 

experience of God could he hope to attain the 
righteousness of God. There was no doubt 
in the mind of Christ on this point, — none. 
Through the Kingdom of God to the perfec- 
tion of God; that was the experience of the 
only man of our race who has sought and won 
a perfect character. Let me give all possible 
emphasis to this fact. Jesus sought union 
with God, not merely for the joy of such a 
union, but first of all for its righteousness, 
knowing that if through it he experienced the 
righteousness of God, all other attributes of 
God would be added to him. His single life 
aim was to perfect himself as his Father in 
Heaven is perfect; to fulfill all the righteous- 
ness of God. His motive was without flaw, 
since he sought for all men the perfection 
which he sought for himself. Without such a 
motive his aim would have been unattainable. 
Fellowship with God, the perfect God, was the 
method by which Jesus sought to attain his 
aim. He realized that without such fellowship 
he could not possibly hope to secure the devel- 
opment and fulfillment of the divine possibil- 
ities of his nature. Therefore Jesus regarded 

[157] 



CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OF GOD 

his fellowship with God as the supreme treas- 
ure. The Kingdom of God to him was so 
valuable that he would gladly give all that 
he had to possess it. Without it there was 
no possibility of perfecting his soul. Without 
union with God he would be as a seed without 
soil, or as meal without leaven, or as a branch 
without a vine. His soul would be lost to all 
possibility of perfection unless he kept himself 
in growing experience of God. Knowing this, 
we understand why Jesus was prepared to 
maintain his union with God at any cost ; why 
he sacrificed all that he had, every other 
friendship, and finally his life on the cross, 
rather than contradict the nature of God, and 
so mar his fellowship with Him, his experience 
of Him. 

St. Paul shared Christ's estimate of the 
value of an experience of God when he de- 
clared that he regarded all that such an expe- 
rience had cost him as so much refuse in the 
streets compared with it. It was Jesus' un- 
derstanding that only as he kept himself in the 
Kingdom of God could he expect to inherit 
the righteousness of God, that made him prize 

[158] 



CONCLUSION 

that Kingdom so highly as to protect him 
fully from all the temptations that came to 
him to sacrifice it for material gain or social 
relationships. His experience of God was so 
precious to Christ that he gladly sacrificed all 
that would have hindered it. 

That relationship is open to all men upon 
the same condition that marked Christ's en- 
trance into it. If there is a man who cannot 
have Christ's experience of God, then there is 
a man who cannot hope to attain with Christ 
to the perfection of God. But thanks be unto 
God, there is no man of our race who may 
not ultimately be perfected, since there is none 
who may not share to the full Christ's experi- 
ence of God. That experience at first may be 
very feeble. The union with God of some 
men may be like that of a mother and a new 
born child, or like the union of one of the least 
of seeds with the soil and sun, but it will grow 
if it is cultivated, until it perfects the humblest 
man remaining in it. 

The religious experience of Jesus Christ is 
a reality, as everyone may know who will ful- 
fill the conditions of experiencing it. Through 

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CHRIST'S EXPERIENCE OE GOD 

obedience to God's laws, which are all expres- 
sions of Himself, men experience and know 
Him in the only way in which he can be 
known. "Xo man hath seen God at any time. 
The only begotten of the Father, he hath de- 
clared Him." That is,. Jesus declared One 
whom he had not seen, to men who can never 
see Him. The writer of these words connects 
them with a statement of the secret of Christ's 
knowledge of God. when he says. u He was in 
the bosom of the Father." bv which he means 
that Jesus' revelation of God is solely the 
result of his experience of God. He that is 
in the bosom of the Father, because of that 
close experience of the Father, has power to 
reveal Him in his character, which is the re- 
sult, or fruit, of that union. Only as we have 
Christ's experience of God, Ins bosom experi- 
ence of God, can we know Him as he knew 
Him, and declare Him to the world as he 
declared Him. 

Reader, are vou in the Kingdom? Do you 
have daily experience of its fruits? Or, are 
you in the outer darkness of the life apart 
from God, with its perils, sorrows, evils, er- 

[160] 



CONCLUSION 

rors, sins, leading to death? If so, let me 
plead with you to consider the value of what 
God offers you in His Kingdom, which, at 
this moment, as you read these words, is within 
your reach, and into which you may now enter, 
at this moment, through the door of loving 
consent to do the perfecting will of your 
Heavenly Father. Come into it and see for 
yourself its treasures, taste its fruits and feel 
its power. Come into the life with God, in 
which your burden will grow light. It is an 
easy yoke, — the yoke that unites one with 
Him, who is all love, and truth, and joy. Ful- 
filling the command of Jesus, which is writ- 
ten, also, in my own heart, I say, "Come, for 
all things are ready — and whosoever will, let 
him come, and partake of the water of life 
freely." 



[161] 



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